(Minghui.org) Canadian Member of Parliament Peter Kent welcomes the current trend of Chinese citizens filing criminal complaints against former dictator Jiang Zemin, and says that Chinese courts are expected to process the cases.

“It’s good that the people are using the rule of law to make their official complaints known to the courts, through the courts to the central committee, through the courts to the general population that might not be familiar with some of the persecution over the last 16 years,” says Mr. Kent, chairman of Friends of Falun Gong in Canada and a recipient of the prestigious Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award.

He continues, “I think the Canadian government hopes that the rule of law will be respected and that the courts who are hearing these various complaints—they are very serious human rights allegations including murder, rape, unjust imprisonment, seizure of property, torture—will listen to the charges and make a judgment based on fact.”

Over 103,000 Falun Gong practitioners and their family members, in and outside of China, have filed criminal complaints against Jiang Zemin to the Chinese Supreme People's Procuratorate, as of July 23, 2015. Among these plaintiffs, 1,078 are from 24 countries and areas outside of China.

Jiang, then-leader of the Chinese Communist Party, launched a nationwide suppression campaign against Falun Gong in July 1999. His directives to “ruin their [Falun Gong practitioners'] reputation, cut off their finances, and extinguish them physically” has torn apart millions of Chinese families in the past 16 years.

Canadian Member of Parliament Peter Kent joins a public rally in Toronto on July 18, 2015, supporting Chinese citizens filing criminal complaints against former dictator Jiang Zemin.

Mr. Kent thinks the lawsuits against Jiang shows that “the Chinese government recognizes that there’s a greater hunger for reform.”

“Thousands of Chinese citizens are able to take their complaints of the persecution under Jiang Zemin to a court of law to seek justice. I think that’s encouraging to Canadians.”

“As the truth is exposed in the various lawsuits,” says Mr. Kent, “one expects the Chinese government to respond appropriately.”

“Our support of Falun Dafa, or Falun Gong, openly sends a message of encouragement to individual Chinese citizens... Those practitioners who are persecuted are not alone.”

Rev. Majed El Shafie, founder of One Free World International, at a rally on July 18, 2015, in Toronto, Canada

Rev. Majed El Shafie, founder of One Free World International, an international human rights organization based in Toronto, states that suing Jiang Zemin is a very important first step. He stresses that the future of China is in the hands of Chinese.

“This legal action that’s being taken is important… It will be a true test if the Chinese government, if the Chinese court will have justice or not.”

“We cannot remain silent on the persecution, damage, killing, organ harvesting that is taking place against the Chinese, against the Falun Gong people,” he says, adding that it is a test of the West as much as a test for China how the West will maintain their integrity and consider human rights issues before the mighty dollar.

Rev. El Shafie has a message for the Chinese communist Party: “For 16 years, you try to kill these people. You try to kill the Falun Gong; you try to destroy them. Sixteen years later, you cannot. It’s the opposite. The Falun Gong is getting stronger and stronger every day.”

“So this is the time to think about that the violence that you are using against them, the persecution that you are using against them for 16 years is not bringing any results. It’s about time to bring truth to the lies that you have been saying, light to the darkness that these people have been living in.”