Ms. Li Jumei Sentenced to Seven Years for Suing Jiang Zemin Over Husband's Wrongful Death

(Minghui.org) Ms. Li Jumei filed a criminal complaint on June 1, 2015 against Jiang Zemin, the former head of the Chinese communist regime who instigated the persecution of Falun Gong in July 1999. She documented in the complaint her husband's tragic death while in police custody. His death occurred only two months after he was arrested for attempting to rescue another detained Falun Gong practitioner.

Ms. Li was arrested four months after filing her complaint, on October 23, 2015. The authorities used the generic charge of “undermining law enforcement,” a charge often used against Falun Gong practitioners. The Jiahe County Court held three hearings against Ms. Li on November 17 and December 10, 2015, as well as May 27, 2016.

Li Jumei was sentenced to seven years in prison, and is currently held in the Chenzhou City No.1 Detention Center. She had appealed the sentence to the Chenzhou City Intermediate People's Court.

Ms. Li said during the hearing that she suffered severe torture in the detention center and lost consciousness twice. But the authorities have refused to release her on medical parole.

Repeated Persecution

Ms. Li Jumei, 59, was an elementary school teacher. The school withheld her salary for nine years and deprived her of all her retirement benefits because she refused to renounce her faith. She was detained in a detention center five times and a brainwashing center twice. She has also been sentenced twice to forced labor, and the authorities extorted thousands of yuan from her and her family.

Torture

During Ms. Li's one-and-a-half year of detention at the forced labor camp in 2007, the guards locked her in the restroom for over three-and-a-half months. She was forced to stand the entire night and was deprived of sleep. The inmates who monitored Ms. Li beat her when she closed her eyes. She became emaciated and her legs and feet were swollen. After more than a year of torture at the labor camp, her family could not recognize her when she was released.

Ms. Li and her husband Mr. Guo Huisheng were arrested on August 6, 2009 for trying to rescue practitioner Ms. Xiao Silan.

Family Members Mourn Loss

“At the police station,” Ms. Li said in her complaint, “I saw four big, burly men carry a man covered with blood. When I realized the man they carried was my husband, I was so shocked that I immediately fainted.”

She continued, “The police took us to the detention center the next morning. Within less than two months, my husband passed away. My 80-year-old in-laws were devastated, and my two daughters forever lost their father. I couldn't stop crying in the detention center. My heart was torn apart.”

Due to brutal mental and physical torture in the detention center, Ms. Li came down with heavy uterine bleeding and was taken to a hospital. The detention center granted her medical parole. But she was still monitored by police upon returning home.

“My family was torn apart,” Ms. Li related, “because we were persecuted for our faith in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. With all the financial extortion, the cut-off of our income, our lives, including that of my parents, in-laws, as well as that of my children were simply miserable.”

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

Related reports:Ms. Li Jumei Forced to Flee Home to Avoid Imprisonment, Her Husband Persecuted to DeathGuo Huisheng's Parting With His Wife

Participants in the persecution of Ms. Li:
Huang Jianlong (黄建龙), presiding judge, Jiahe County Court: [phone]Li Xuelian (李雪莲), judge in charge of Ms. Li's case, Chenzhou Intermediate Court: [phone]Li Dexiao (李德笑), political secretary, Jiahe County Political and Legal Affairs Committee: [phone], [phone] (Office)Ling Hengchen (凌衡郴), head, 610 Office: [phone], [phone], [phone]Chenzhou 610 Office: [phone]