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Shandong Man Sues Former Chinese Dictator for Years of Detention and Ruining His Business

February 01, 2016 |   By a Minghui correspondent in Shandong Province, China

(Minghui.org) A factory owner in Yantai City, Shandong Province, filed a criminal complaint against Jiang Zemin in August 2015. In his complaint, he held the former Chinese dictator responsible for the illegal shutdown of his two factories and illegal detention because of his belief in Falun Gong.

An employee of Yantai City Wooden Clock Factory, Mr. Li Zegang, 64, also ran his own business and factory on the side. The local police raided his first factory and confiscated his assets in September 2000, two months after he went to Beijing to appeal against the persecution of Falun Gong. Ten months after the raid, he was given three years of forced labor.

Mr. Li opened a second factory after his release from the labor camp, but the new business was also shut down by the authorities when he was arrested again in 2006. He was sentenced to seven years in prison soon afterwards.

His formal job at the Wooden Clock Factory was terminated in 2001, and the company denied his pension application despite his repeated requests. The company demanded that he stop practicing Falun Gong, which he firmly rejected. As of today, Mr. Li has not received any pension benefits.

Below is Mr. Li's personal account of what happened to him during the past 16 years of the persecution.

Three Arrests in One Year; First Factory Shut Down

I began practicing Falun Gong in August 1996. Shortly after that, all the chronic diseases that had tormented me for years were gone. I, however, was arrested three times over the course of one year for going to Beijing to appeal for the practice that had cured me.

I was illegally arrested on July 22, 1999, for speaking up for Falun Gong in Beijing. I was released, and then arrested again in December and detained for 15 days.

I was arrested a third time when I displayed banners in Tiananmen Square in July 2000 and was severely beaten by the guards in Yancheng Detention Center. I was incarcerated for 18 days before being escorted home to Yantai by officers. I escaped on the way back.

The officers from Yantai Police Department then raided my factory in September and confiscated many of my belongings including jewelry, a computer, and Dafa materials. They also dispersed my workers and took two supervisors in for interrogation. My factory was forced to shut down.

Fourth Arrest Leads to Three Years of Forced Labor

I was captured on July 1, 2001 and taken to Nanjiao Detention Center. When I refused to sign documents renouncing my faith, two guards brutally beat me and kicked me until I was badly injured and vomited blood.

The pain from the injury was so unbearable that an off-duty doctor was called in on the fourth day. He blamed me for having to do extra work and beat me up with the help of a guard. When I passed out, they doused me with water to wake me up. Because of the pain, my whole body twitched. I was taken to Yantai 407 Naval Hospital three days later.

In the hospital, I was handcuffed and shackled to the bed. The doctor told me that I had a serious stomach ulcer and that surgery was needed. I tried to convince the doctor that my health would recover if I were allowed to do the Falun Gong exercises. I did get better ten days later without undergoing surgery.

The officers from the 610 Office then sent me to the Haiyang Brainwashing Center for “transformation,” in other words being brainwashed into giving up my belief. I refused to be transformed and went on a hunger strike. A few days later, I was sent to the Zibowangcun Forced Labor Camp for three years.

I was released from the forced labor camp in September 2003. When I reported to work at Yantai City Wooden Clock Factory, the factory guards sent me to a brainwashing center operated by the 610 Office for more than 20 days. They then told me that my job was terminated in 2001.

Sentenced to Seven Years; Second Factory Shut Down

I was arrested again on October 15, 2006, when I went out for dinner. The officers also arrested my wife and ransacked my home later the same day. They confiscated three laptop computers, a DVD burner, some Falun Gong books and materials, and about 10,000 yuan. They also ransacked and shut down the second factory I started upon my release from the labor camp.

At the police station that evening I was hung in the air with both hands cuffed behind my back while they tried to force me to give up Falun Gong. They slapped me and beat me when I refused. I soon fell unconscious. They let me down, and one officer grabbed my shoulders and shook me to wake me up. He then grabbed my hand and scribbled on a piece of paper. I was too weak to resist. I did not know what they wrote.

Eighteen days later, I was taken to the Nanjiao Detention Center, and then sent to the Shandong Prison in Jinan to serve seven years. Upon my release in 2012, I applied to the Wooden Clock Factory to get my pension several times, but was denied each time. As of today, I still have not received any pension benefits.

Background

In 1999, Jiang Zemin, as head of the Chinese Communist Party, overrode other Politburo standing committee members and launched the violent suppression of Falun Gong.

The persecution has led to the deaths of many Falun Gong practitioners over the past 16 years. More have been tortured for their beliefs and even killed for their organs. Jiang Zemin is directly responsible for the inception and continuation of the brutal persecution.

Under his personal direction, the Chinese Communist Party established an extralegal security organ, the “610 Office,” on June 10, 1999. The organization overrides police forces and the judicial system in carrying out Jiang's directive regarding Falun Gong: to ruin their reputations, cut off their financial resources, and destroy them physically.

Chinese law now allows for citizens to be plaintiffs in criminal cases, and many practitioners are exercising that right to file criminal complaints against the former dictator.