(Minghui.org) A trial against Mr. Sun Pinghua was scheduled for the morning of May 25, 2016. Mr. Sun was detained last fall during a series of arrests targeting those who had filed criminal complaints against former dictator Jiang Zemin for initiating the persecution of Falun Gong.
Mr. Sun, from Yueyang City, Hunan Province, holds Jiang responsible for the torture and abuse he suffered in 2008 which rendered him crippled.
During Mr. Sun's arrest on September 22, 2015, his home was ransacked and he was detained at Yueyang County Detention Center.
On the day of Mr. Sun's recent hearing, police and 610 Office agents were outside the courtroom trying to block people from attending trial.
Court officials and 610 Office agents made up a story to deceive Mr. Sun’s friends and family into leaving. The judge began the trial when no supporter of Mr. Sun’s was around.
Mr. Sun’s lawyer rebutted the charges, citing that there has never been a law that criminalizes Falun Gong, hence the persecution is illegal to begin with. He stated that it is within Mr. Sun’s rights to seek justice against Jiang Zemin for launching the persecution that resulted in his repeated torture and injuries.
In Mr. Sun’s own testimony, he said he was crippled due to brutal torture while unlawfully detained in 2008. He had been seeking justice against his perpetrators for seven years, yet no one addressed his complaints or covered his medical expenses. He realized that it is not just a few police officers who abused him, but it is the ongoing persecution policy that resulted in harm to him and numerous other practitioners. Thus he filed a criminal complaint against Jiang, but was arrested again. He argued that he should not have been prosecuted for seeking justice against those who assaulted him.
The judge repeatedly interrupted Mr. Sun and his lawyer and adjourned the session without issuing a verdict.
Tortured and Crippled for His Belief, Falun Gong Practitioner Sues Former Chinese Dictator Jiang ZeminMr. Sun Pinghua's Account of His Persecution at the Hands of Police from Yueyang City Domestic Security Division in Hunan ProvinceCrippled by Police Torture: Mr. Sun Pinghua of Yueyang City, Hunan Province
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 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.