(Minghui.org) A former middle school administrator is suing former Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin for launching the persecution of Falun Gong that resulted in his five arrests and being detained for almost 6 years in forced labor camps and prisons.
Mr. Chen Mingxian, 72, was Assistant Principal of Wanfa Town Central School in Lishu County, Jilin Province. He was brutally tortured each time he was arrested for refusing to give up his belief in Falun Gong.
He and his wife fled their home following their most recent arrest in May 2010. While destitute, he filed a criminal complaint against Jiang Zemin on August 5, 2015.
Below is Mr. Chen's personal account of his ordeals.
My wife and I started to practice Falun Gong in 1996. My health improved a lot, and I haven't had to see a doctor since.
I tried my best to follow Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, the principles of Falun Gong. As a result, our family relationships improved, and my work was recognized by my colleagues and superiors.
However, since 1999, when Jiang Zemin launched the persecution of Falun Gong, I have been arrested five times because I refused to give up my belief.
My first arrest was at the end of 2000. I was at home with my first-grade grandson. Captain Li Guohai of the Taiping Town Police Precinct and another officer broke into my home and took me to Lishu Detention Center. I went on a hunger strike to protest the illegal detention. When my brother Li Yongtang came to see me, he was forced to pay 120 yuan in “luggage fees.”
Two months later, on February 27, 2001, Li Guohai and officer Li Lingxuan broke into my house and took my wife and me to the brainwashing facility, which was hidden in a guest house of the Lishu County Agriculture Bureau. We were detained and tortured there for over 20 days.
In August 2001, officers Li Guohai and Li Lingxuan broke into my home and took me to the county police department. On August 14, Li Guohai sent me to Siping Forced Labor Camp.
I was transferred to Liaoyuan City Forced Labor Camp on September 30. I was told to remember the camp rules, but I refused to. A team that focused on torturing Falun Gong practitioners was created in the camp. They sent us to a workshop, but I refused to go.
In November, practitioners Zhang Jieshan and Meng Xiangqi tried to escape but failed. They were brutally tortured and locked in a cage, where they couldn't stand up or lie down.
That same night, the guards questioned us and tried to force us to renounce Falun Gong. I said they were not criminals and didn't belong there, and that I would do the same if I got a chance.
Two days later, I was told to go to the guard's office. As soon as I opened the door, two policemen beat me brutally without saying a word. My face, head, and lips were so swollen that I couldn't eat. I was then sent to the team where practitioners were strictly monitored. My four lower front teeth were loose.
On December 23, I was transferred with many other practitioners to Chaoyanggou Forced Labor Camp in Changchun City. I went on a hunger strike to protest the illegal detention but was force-fed and held in solitary the day before the New Year.
In 2002, the torture became more and more brutal. For refusing to be “transformed” and renounce their belief, four practitioners were tortured to death. They were Xu Yongping and Zhang Quanfu from Baishan City, Zheng Fuxiang from Nong'an City, and Li Xiaodong from Siping City.
I remember one night in September I was brutally beaten in the guard's office. They lashed me with a bull whip until I passed out. After I came to, guard Wang Tao continued to whip me. When he got tired, he hit me with a plastic stool so hard that the stool broke and my head was bleeding. Several prisoners came and dragged me to the bathroom to wash off the blood. I fainted on the way. To destroy the evidence, they switched my bloody shirt with another one they found.
I was released on January 15, 2003.
A year later, I was arrested again.
On June 14, 2004, Sun Jingfu, the deputy director of Lishu County Police Department, and over 10 officers from the 610 Office and Taiping Town Police Precinct broke into my home and took me to the precinct.
My arms and legs were tied on to an iron chair. They demanded to know where I got my Falun Gong flyers. The interrogation went on for three days and nights.
At night on June 18, Li Changfu, the director of the 610 Office, and Zhou Wenyan, the head of the political and security section, tortured me to try to extract a confession. While I was immobilized in the iron chair, they punched me in the head and back. They also struck my back with a wooden stick. I passed out.
A few days later, I was taken to a detention center.
At the end of August, the court secretly tried me without notifying my family. In the middle of September, I was sent to Jilin Provincial Prison. In March 2005, I was transferred to Ward 16 of Tiebei Prison in Changchun. A year later, I was transferred to Gongzhuling Prison.
There, I remember being held in solitary confinement in Ward 7 and immobilized in a bed for 12 straight days. I developed a large bedsore in my hip. When I was unshackled, I couldn't walk.
I was tortured the same way three times, for 12 days and nights each time.
In the winter, I was locked in an unheated room.
On July 13, 2008, I was released from prison. No later than the next day, however, Wang Changhe, the director of Wanfa Town Police Precinct, came to harass me at my home.
The local police never stopped harassing me. In 2009, Siping City held a brainwashing session. Wang Changhe came to my house and tried to take me to the brainwashing center. I refused to go.
In the middle of May 2010, Siping City held another brainwashing session. Wu Boqing, the director of Wanfa Town Police Precinct; Li Lingxuan, the deputy chief of the town government; and seven or eight others broke into and ransacked my home. They took me to the brainwashing center and didn't release me until June 16.
To avoid further arrests, my wife and I have been forced to live away from home since 2011.
My school has suspended my salary and cut off my retirement benefits since October 2004. Life is very difficult for my wife and me.