(Minghui.org) A total of 720 Falun Gong practitioners from the Acheng District of Harbin, Heilongjiang Province have filed criminal complaints against former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin between late May 2015 and February 5, 2016, according to reports compiled by the Minghui website.
The practitioners charge the former Chinese dictator with initiating the brutal suppression of Falun Gong and hold him responsible for the tremendous suffering inflicted upon them by his campaign. The criminal complaints were mailed to the Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate.
Many of these practitioners recounted how Falun Gong returned them to health and gave them a new outlook on life. Their wish to live a healthier and happier life, however, was shattered when Jiang Zemin launched a nationwide campaign to eradicate the practice in 1999.
Simply for refusing to give up their belief, they were arrested, detained, tortured, and had their homes ransacked and personal belongings seized. Many also saw their families implicated for their belief, while some were also forced to pay huge fines.
Mr. Huang Tiebo (黄铁波), 43, was forced to undergo brainwashing for 100 consecutive days, made to do forced labor twice for one and a half years and three years, respectively, and sentenced to three and a half years in prison.
In the labor camp, Mr. Huang was forced to do hard labor for over 10 hours a day. His hands turned purple and green from contact with toxic heavy metal materials.
In both the labor camp and prison, the guards beat him at will, shocked him with electric batons, and carried out punitive force-feeding as he went on hunger strikes to protest the maltreatment.
Mr. Sun Cheng (孙成), 51, and his wife were arrested and detained twice, and forced to undergo brainwashing for over 30 days. Mr. Sun was given one year of forced labor.
During detention, the inmates were instigated to savagely beat Mr. Sun until he was incontinent and almost unconscious. The guards force-fed him with expired milk power and large amounts of salt. As a result, his weight dropped from over 176 pounds (80 kg) to 110 pounds (50 kg).
At the brainwashing center, Mr. Sun and his wife suffered both psychological and corporal punishment for refusing to give up their practice of Falun Gong, while their two underage children and Mr. Sun's parents were forced to watch from a distance.
In order to avoid further persecution, Mr. Sun and his wife were forced to live away from home, leaving their children behind. His father was hospitalized due to the tremendous mental suffering and has not fully recovered.
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 in the past 16 years. More have been tortured for their belief 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 allows for citizens to be plaintiffs in criminal cases, and many practitioners are now exercising that right to file criminal complaints against the former dictator.