(Minghui.org) In Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, 79 Falun Gong practitioners have filed criminal complaints against Jiang Zemin since May 2015, according to reports compiled by the Minghui website.

The practitioners charge the former Chinese dictator with initiating the brutal suppression of Falun Gong and hold him responsible for the tremendous suffering inflicted upon them by his campaign. The criminal complaints were mailed to the Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate.

Many of these practitioners recounted how Falun Gong returned them to health and gave them a new outlook on life. Their dream to live a healthier and happier life, however, was shattered when Jiang Zemin launched a nationwide campaign to eradicate the practice in 1999.

Simply for refusing to give up their belief, they were arrested, detained, tortured, and had their homes ransacked and personal belongings seized by the authorities. Many also saw their families blacklisted for the practitioners' belief, while some were also forced to pay huge fines.

Below, we profile a few of these practitioners:

Ms. Shi Xiaoying, Imprisoned for Eight Years

Ms. Shi, 51, was sentenced twice, serving eight years in prison. “I was taken to the Zhejiang Provincial Women's Prison on January 5, 2005 for the first time,” Ms. Shi wrote in her complaint.

“The guards ordered inmates to torture and insult me. I was deprived of sleep for not giving up my faith. Later, I was put in solitary confinement and forced to sit on a small stool for hours each day.”

She was arrested and sentenced a second time on September 4, 2009. “This time it was four years in prison. I experienced the same kinds of treatment. After eight years of physical and mental torture, I lost most of my teeth. As I was less than 50, I had only a few teeth remaining.”

Ms. Shen Xiaohui (沈筱慧): Injected with Unknown Drugs at Mental Hospital

Ms. Shen, 45, went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong after the persecution started in 1999. Later she was taken back to Ningbo City by the local police. However, after one month in detention, she was taken to the Kangning Mental Hospital and was subjected to forced therapy.

“I refused to wear the hospital gown, so some nurses pushed me down onto a bed and used an electric baton to shock me in the head. That kind of pain I will never forget,” Ms. Shen wrote.

“I was regularly injected with an unknown substance which harmed my central nervous system. My memory deteriorated badly. Even now I can't recall completely how I was tortured. Later, I was told clearly by the doctor that they gave me injections because they were following their superiors' instructions.”

Ms. Niu Zixia: Sentenced to Three Years

Ms. Niu, 45, was arrested and sentenced to three years in prison on October 13, 2008.

“I was taken to the Zhejiang Provincial Women's Prison in July 2009,” Ms. Niu wrote in her complaint. “I was isolated in a room where two inmates monitored me 24 hours a day. I was forced to sit on a stool without moving for hours each day as a punishment for not giving up my belief.”

Ms. Huang Yaqin: Brainwashing and Forced Labor for Eight Years

Ms. Huang, 52, was sentenced to eight years in prison for practicing Falun Gong. She said in her complaint, “I was arrested in my shop on the evening of October 31, 2006. Around seven to eight plainclothes police ransacked my home.

“I was taken to the Zhejiang Provincial Women's Prison in May 2007. Police ordered three inmates to monitor me 24 hours a day,” she said. “I was forced to watch videos slandering Falun Gong and had to write statements attacking my own belief.

“I had to do hard labor Monday to Saturday. During the work, two inmates watched me. One day I fainted and was taken to hospital for surgery.”

Ms. Wang Caizhu: Arrested Three Times

Ms. Wang, 71, was arrested three times for practicing Falun Gong.

Around a dozen officers from her local police station went to her home and ransacked it in June 2011. Her Dafa books were confiscated. She was held in the local detention center for 13 days.

Later, she was taken to the brainwashing center twice and was held there for 59 days.

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 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.