(Clearwisdom.net, September 8, 2003) On the morning of September 5, Houston Falun Gong practitioners held a symbolic public trial for the chief perpetrator Jiang Zemin in front of the Chinese Consulate in Houston. As part of the global public trial against Jiang, this symbolic trial is to allow more people to know about Jiang's crimes in cruelly persecuting innocent people and have more learn about the righteous legal actions undertaking against him all over the world.

After Falun Gong practitioners filed a lawsuit against Jiang in October last year in the U.S., preparation of suing Jiang in Switzerland was done in March this year and a lawsuit can be filed once Jiang steps onto Swiss soil. Starting from July of this year, Falun Gong practitioners from Canada, United Kingdom and Australia successively announced their plans of bringing Jiang to justice in their own countries. The grand global trial on the dictator who ruthlessly persecutes innocent people has begun. Even more so, the voice of justice from different countries, international human rights organizations and media to condemn Jiang's oppression of Falun Gong has put Jiang into the court of morality.

The symbolic trial was held in front of the Chinese Consulate. Large banners and placards that read, "Bring Jiang to Trial on Court of Morality" were displayed as the background. The entire process of the trial was grandeur and solemn, and filled with powerful righteousness. Three Falun Gong practitioners served as judge, prosecutor and counsel for the defense. Several Houston Falun Gong practitioners delivered speeches as witnesses, indicting Jiang for his various crimes of cruelly persecuting Falun Gong. Afterwards, a representative from the "International Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong" appeared in court to bear witness. He presented a video as evidence to illustrate that the so-called "Tiananmen Square Self-Immolation" was a bloody and framed case which was directed and staged by the Jiang regime, who attempted to use this staged incident to generate hatred among the public towards Falun Gong. In the end, the judge convicted defendant Jiang Zemin of committing "genocide, torture and crimes against humanity." The evidence was authentic. The judge also highly appraised Falun Gong practitioners' courage and dignity during the persecution.

Scene of the symbolic trial	Attester bearing witness	Attester bearing witness.

The several Houston Falun Gong practitioners and their family members' plights were really appalling. Witness Ms. Wei Jinxia related that her mother-in-law Ms. Han Jizhen was forcibly sent to the Nanjing Psychiatric Hospital by local police and was tortured there simply because she would not give up her practice of Falun Gong. In addition, because she and her husband Mr. Wang Yongsheng also practice Falun Gong, the Chinese Consulate in Houston refused to renew their passports, which made them unable to maintain their status and consequently lose their job and source of income.

Witness Ms. Zeng narrated her mother's plight. Because her mother would not give up her practice of Falun Gong, she was arrested several times and illegally imprisoned. As a result, her originally healthy mother was tortured so badly that she became skinny and her health was in a desperate condition. Ms. Zeng's younger sister and her brother-in-law were also unlawfully detained several times. They were put into the so-called re-education centers and were forced to receive brainwashing. After her younger sister served an illegal one-year forced labor sentence, recently, she was sentenced to three more years of forced labor. Her 11-year-old son was left along at home. A happy family was thus torn apart.

Witness Ms. Tang went back to visit China in November 1999. Because she is a Falun Gong practitioner, she was severely beaten by a group of police officers. She was forcibly detained in Tianhe Detention Center. During her hunger strike to protest the detention, the police officers force-fed her, which almost suffocated her to death.

Witness Ms. Wang Yang practiced Falun Gong with nine other practitioners in a public park in Beijing in June 2000, and was illegally detained for two days as a result. Later her family members were constantly harassed and threatened by the local police officers and neighborhood community office.

When witness Ms. Chen Xuewei introduced Falun Gong to the students of University of Houston-Clear Lake in 2000, officials from the Chinese Consulate went to this campus to intervene. They spread lies to the students and threatened the Chinese students. Officials from the Chinese National Security Department also went to Ms. Chen's parents' home in China to perform so-called investigations, when they actually threatened and harassed her parents. Jiang Zemin incited all of these persecutions. In fact this persecution is not the Chinese government's policy, and it does not represent the Chinese people's opinion. Solely out of his own selfish interest, Jiang used his power and started the persecution by means of violence and slandering propaganda. On one hand, he used cruel and vicious means to persecute Falun Gong practitioners and force them to give up their practice; on the other hand, he controlled the one-voice media to spread lies and to deceive the public. Jiang is the chief criminal of this oppression and he must be held accountable for what he has committed.

During the trial, several local Chinese media including the New Tang Dynasty TV, Epoch Times and the World Journal came to cover the event. Passersby stopped to watch the trial and talked with practitioners. When passing by the spot of the symbolic trial, an official from the Chinese Consulate who had vilely treated Falun Gong practitioners seemed to be shaken by this powerful field of righteous thoughts and accepted the truth-clarifying material regarding the lawsuit against Jiang.

According to local Falun Gong practitioners, they will continue to hold the trial at different places in Texas so as to let more people to learn about the bloody crimes committed by Jiang and help end the ruthless persecution of kind and innocent people in China as soon as possible.