(Minghui.org) Ms. Zhao Haiyan, 40, was a deputy director at the Xinjiang Environmental Protection Science Research Institute. She now resides in Canada.
She spent two years in a Chinese forced labor camp and suffered all sorts of torture because she refused to give up her belief in Falun Gong. Her family was put under constant surveillance after her release in 2003.
Unable to bear the harassment, Ms. Zhao and her immediate family fled to Canada in 2014. Now in a safe place, she recently filed a criminal complaint against Jiang Zemin for initiating the persecution campaign that led to her ordeal.
Just one week before she filed her lawsuit on August 13, 2015, her parents, who still live in China, were questioned by the local police, who attempted to obtain information about her.
In her complaint, Ms. Zhao detailed how she has suffered at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party.
When I was doing research in another county in 1998, I discovered that my colleague practiced Falun Gong. I also wanted to learn it, so he gave me a copy of Zhuan Falun to read.
The principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance resonated with me deeply, and I realized the meaning of life is to return to one's original self. I began to live by these principles by striving to be a good person. I no longer fought for fame or personal interest, I carried out my duties responsibly, my accomplishments were acknowledged by my colleagues, and I received workplace awards each year.
The persecution began on July 20, 1999, and slander of Falun Gong filled the airwaves. Another practitioner and I were arrested just two days later. Our Falun Gong books were confiscated, and we were held in the local police department.
I went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in February of 2000. I was arrested right after I filled out the complaint form at the State Bureau for Letters and Calls. Security agents sent by my employer escorted me back to Xinjiang and held me for a month. I was monitored day and night, and harangued and pressured endlessly. I received heavy fines and was demoted.
After that, I lost my freedom and could no longer live or work like a normal person, as I was monitored closely by my coworkers and constantly harassed by officers from the 610 Office and police department.
To escape the endless harassment, I left my job and my home in February 2001. The Domestic Security Division and police department began searching for me all over the city. For my husband and colleagues, looking for me became their job assignment.
I was arrested in my rented place in March 2001 and held in the Urumqi Detention Center. My Falun Gong books and personal belonging were confiscated. I was handcuffed and shackled for over 20 days and could not stand or move. I was not able to eat or do anything.
My ankles were black and blue due to the weight of the shackles. I protested the inhumane treatment with a hunger strike for eight days. Five to six people held me down on a chair to force-feed me. My nose bled profusely.
I was sent the Urumqi Women's Forced Labor Camp for two years.
As soon as we got there, we were forced to stand under the baking sun all day until dark. I was dragged into a room, where inmates beat me. I was locked in a one-meter square cage for four days. I was not allow to sleep, lean, or sit.
One night, two guards with electric batons shocked me at the same time until the batteries were used up. They cursed me and slandered Falun Gong. I was covered with scorch marks that took two years to fade.
I was sent to a brainwashing center in July 2001 and held there for two months before being taken back to the labor camp. Two people closely monitored me. Falun Gong practitioners were not allowed to talk to oneo another. We were forced to watch propaganda videos every day, and threatened with having our relatives lose their jobs and our children not being allowed to go to school.
When I was released in 2003, I sat for an exam for a Master's degree program at the Beijing University Physics Institute.
I passed all the tests and interviews, but after they reviewed my file and realized I was a Falun Gong practitioner, they returned my file and refuse to admit me to the program.
During the ten plus years since my release, my family and I have been constantly harassed–including my husband, who does not practice Falun Gong.
By the end of 2013, other practitioners were being sent to the brainwashing center one after the another. My husband was afraid that they would take me away again. We were forced to leave China in June 2014 and came to Canada.
My parents are still being harassed. On August 5, 2015, they were pressured to provide information about us.
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 during 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.