(Minghui.org) Five Falun Gong practitioners have been held in the Shenyang City No. 1 Detention Center since they were illegally arrested between July and November 2015.
Some of the practitioners were arrested because they talked to people about the persecution of Falun Gong. Some were arrested after they filed lawsuits against Jiang Zemin, the former head of the Chinese Communist Party, for launching the brutal persecution of Falun Gong.
All five practitioners are from Liaozhong County, Liaoning Province. The practitioners include Ms. Hou Xiufen, Ms. Shi Lihua, Ms. Shao Yinghui, Ms. Guo Xiuzhi, and Ms. Liu Xiangju.
Their family members visited relevant government offices and asked that the practitioners be released without charges. Their efforts have been in vain, and the local police even threatened to arrest them.
Ms. Hou Xiufen's husband witnessed his wife being arrested from their home. He visited police departments, the procuratorate, and the courts, only to be threatened by officers.
Ms. Hou's case has been transferred to the Liaozhong County Court, where she faces trial. The judge presiding over her case, Zhang Haibo, previously sentenced Falun Gong practitioner Han Qing to three years in prison.
After she was detained, Ms. Guo Xiuzhi's health declined. She was forced to sit on a “small stool” for long hours every day, a common form of physical punishment that can cause victims' flesh to fester after prolonged use. She now has difficulty seeing and hearing. Her husband fears for her life if she continues to be held in such conditions.
After Ms. Shi Lihua brought a lawsuit against Jiang Zemin, her son was fired from his job. The couple depended on their son for financial support, as her husband is disabled and unable to work.
Ms. Liu Xiangju, who is in her 60s, has elderly parents who are both over 80 and depend on her for daily care. Her parents have been overcome with worry since her arrest.
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.