(Minghui.org) Ms. Zhang Huahong and Ms. Chen Meiling were sentenced in a secret trial in Huazhou City Court on July 11, 2016. Only one of the women's family members were allowed to attend the trial.

Ms. Zhang was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison, while Ms. Chen was sentenced to four-and-a-half years.

Recent Arrest

Ms. Zhang, in her 60s, was arrested on October 30, 2015, for filing a criminal complaint against Jiang Zemin, the former head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), for initiating the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999.

She was held at the Huazhou No. 1 Detention Center. She was previously sentenced to a forced labor camp twice, for a total of four years.

Ms. Chen, 65, was arrested and taken to the Huazhou No. 2 Detention Center for speaking to people about Falun Gong at a farmer's market on November 8, 2015.

She was previously sentenced to five years in prison in 2002, and two-and-a-half years of forced labor in 2009, for distributing informational materials about the persecution.

Background

In 1999, Jiang Zemin, as head of the CCP, 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 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 policy 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.