(Minghui.org) An 82-year-old woman filed a lawsuit against former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) head Jiang Zemin, for her husband's death and the mental torture that she suffered, all caused by Jiang's policy of persecuting Falun Gong.

Both Ms. Wu Xiuzhen and her husband in Lanzhou City, Gansu Province, practiced Falun Gong and enjoyed a happy life. It was turned upside down when Jiang Zemin launched the suppression of Falun Gong starting July 20, 1999.

Husband's Death

After the persecution started, the police frequently came to the old couple's home to harass them. They demanded that Ms. Wu write a guarantee statement promising to stop practicing Falun Gong. When she refused, the police threatened to arrest her.

When they moved away to live with their son, police followed them to their son's home.

Managers from the Gansu Provincial CCP Party School, where they had worked, also pressured them. They pressured her husband to behave like a communist and maintain the “revolutionary honor in your final years.”

Under mounting pressure, her husband gave up cultivation. His old stroke symptoms came back shortly after. He was hospitalized and passed away on May 23, 2002.

Son Pressured

The Party school manager also came to talk to one of her sons several times, pressuring him to stop Ms. Wu from practicing Falun Gong.

Her son could not bear the pressure. He came to Ms. Wu's home to ask her to stop. He even destroyed the picture of Falun Gong's Master. The family was no longer harmonious.

Monitored and Not Allowed to Go out

A deputy principal of the Party school came to Ms. Wu's home before the Chinese New Year in 2000. He asked her not to go to Beijing to appeal on behalf of Falun Gong. Ms. Wu agreed not to go.

After he left, she reflected on this and felt it was not right. Going to Beijing or appealing for Falun Gong was her right. Why should she give it up? She called the deputy principal and told him that she wanted to keep the right to appeal.

The Party school then stationed people outside her residence. They monitored her around the clock and wouldn't let her leave.

When relatives and neighbors heard this, they shunned her. The authorities even cut her phone service off.

Ms. Wu wrote a letter to a cousin in Beijing in August 2000. Authorities intercepted the letter and read it. Two police officers came to the Party school. They called her to go there and interrogated her about the letter. She told them the benefits that she got by practicing Falun Gong. The two officers eventually left.

A relative brought a pot of flowers to visit her during the Chinese New Year in 2001. Hearing that she wanted to visit Ms. Wu, security guards at the residential community refused to let her in. After she repeatedly explained that she just wanted to wish Ms. Wu a happy new year, the guards let her in. She came to her home, put down the flowers, and then had to leave quickly.

During the First Lanzhou International Marathon in 2011, the Party school hired a lady to monitor her again. She didn't allow Ms. Wu to go out to watch the competition. She also checked her son's bags when he went out.

Deprived of Funds

After the persecution started, the Party school decided to withhold Ms. Wu's welfare payment and subsidies. From 1999 to the time that she filed the lawsuit, the Party school has withheld over 100,000 yuan from her.

Benefits from Practicing Falun Gong

Despite the harassment, mental torture, and the death of her husband, Ms. Wu has remained firm in cultivating in Falun Gong. Both she and her husband had benefited from the practice.

Ms. Wu had many diseases, including heart problems and insufficient blood supply to her brain. She had to take sleeping pills.

In 1996, her husband was hospitalized with a stroke. A colleague visited them and suggested that they practice Falun Gong.

She went to the exercise site and watched the practitioners doing the exercises for two hours. She then read the book Zhuan Falun with them for an hour.

That night, she slept soundly without sleeping pills. Since then, she has not taken any medicine.

She started practicing Falun Gong and read Zhuan Falun twice to her husband, who was comatose from his stroke. He soon regained consciousness and recovered.

In addition to good health, Ms. Wu also improved her character. She was no longer harsh or demanding, and became patient and kind.

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.