(Minghui.org) The police arrested a man after he sued the former Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin, who started the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999.
Police from Wukou Town arrested Mr. Yang Daowen in September 2015 after they found a copy of the complaint on his computer, and claimed that the lawsuit was illegal. He was locked up in Pingjiang County Brainwashing Center.
Mr. Yang, from Pingjiang County, was incarcerated in the out-of-town detention center for a year, well over the legally allowed period, before he was tried and sentenced to three years in prison.
The guards tortured him with sleep deprivation for four days to try to force him to renounce his belief. He was later transferred to Yueyang County Brainwashing Center.
The guards hit him with a heavy book and ruptured his ear drum. After he refused to give up Falun Gong, the police accused him of “using a cult organization to sabotage law enforcement” and officially arrested him in November. Mr. Yang remained in custody until his trial, almost a year later.
Mr. Yang was tried twice, in August and September of 2016. After the second trial, the judge in Pingjiang County sentenced him to three years in prison with a 3,000 yuan fine.
The police and local officials have arrested, incarcerated and beat Mr. Yang many times and twice sent him to a forced labor camp. They have extorted over $15,000 from him and confiscated his personal belongings.
The police harassed and threatened his family. Mr. Yang's parents, who used to be Falun Gong practitioners, were too intimidated to continue the practice.
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.
