(Minghui.org) Nineteen Falun Gong practitioners from Jilin City of Jilin Province filed individual criminal charges with the Supreme People's Procuratorate, charging former Chinese Communist regime leader Jiang Zemin for ordering the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999.
In their complaints, the practitioners, mostly in their 50s to 70s, mentioned that practicing Falun Gong brought tremendous benefits to them, both physically and mentally. Falun Gong cured them of ailments including nerve pain, heart disease, and leukemia. Some expressed that they found peace in life and experienced a more harmonious relationship with their families and colleagues after picking up the practice.
With the onset of the persecution, however, they lost the environment in which to practice Falun Gong freely, and were fired from their workplaces, imprisoned and tortured for refusing to give up their beliefs.
“The demonizing propaganda that Jiang's regime spread against Falun Gong has deceived many Chinese people. We hope that through the lawsuits, the current Party leaders would really think about the issue, end the persecution, and release all those innocent practitioners who are still imprisoned,” the practitioners said in their complaints.
Below are selected excerpts from their complaints.
Pregnant Woman Locked in a Metal Cage
Ms. Xu Min (徐敏) was arrested at Tiananmen Square in October 2000 while ten months pregnant. The police locked her up for four days until she was in labor.
Ms. Xu was arrested again in 2009 for telling the public about the persecution of Falun Gong. She was sentenced to one year in a forced labor camp after 15 days of detention.
In the labor camp, the guards arranged for her to work in a sweatshop during the day, and forced her to sit still on a “small stool” during the nights. The guards shocked her with an electric baton and struck her face repeatedly for half an hour when she refused to renounce her beliefs.
58-Year-Old Woman Hung Up and Savagely Beaten
The police arrested 58-year-old Ms. Li Zaisheng (李再生) from her home, detained her in a dark room in the police station, hung her up, and viciously beat her in March 2002. Her body was covered with wounds and bruises.
The police denied her food and water for two days, in an attempt to force her to give up Falun Gong. Ms. Li refused to comply and was taken to a detention center and tortured for another 40 days. She was then transferred to Heizuizi Forced Labor Camp and given a one-year sentence.
Ms. Li was arrested again and put in a brainwashing center in 2012.
Bedridden Husband Died after Wife's Arrest
Several police officers broke into Ms. Jiang Ruihua's (姜瑞华) home and arrested her in July 2002. Even though she told the police that she was the sole caretaker of her bedridden husband and young child, the police locked her in a detention center for 40 days and transferred her to Heizuizi Forced Labor Camp because she refused to give up her practice.
During the three years she was detained and tortured at the labor camp, her husband was not arranged a caretaker and died as a result. Her child had to quit school because of a lack of financial means.
The 19 practitioners who filed criminal complaints are:
Mr. Liu Youyuan (刘有元), 79Ms. Dou Yuxiang (窦玉香), 75Ms. Wang Shufen (王淑芬), 73Ms. Li Zaisheng (李再生), 71Ms. Li Fengzhen (李凤珍), 71Ms. Sun Lihuan (孙立环), 65Ms. Zhao Fenghua (赵凤华), 63Ms. Jiang Ruihua (姜瑞华), 61Ms. Liu Xiangrui (刘香瑞), 60Ms. Hou Xiuxiang (侯秀香), 57Ms. Wang Yuqin (王玉芹), 55Ms. Liu Xiuzhi (刘秀之), 53Ms. Yao Yan (姚燕), 52Ms. Liu Xiuying (刘秀英), 51Ms. Zhou Fengxia (周凤霞), 50Ms. Liang Yuling (梁玉玲), 50Ms. Zhang Hongjie (张红杰), 48Ms. Xu Min (徐敏), 45Ms. Qu Qingying (瞿庆英)
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.
