(Minghui.org) A total of 641 Falun Gong practitioners from Shangha filed criminal complaints against Jiang Zemin between May 27 and August 12, 2015.

The practitioners charge the former Chinese dictator with initiating the brutal suppression of Falun Gong and hold him responsible for the tremendous suffering inflicted upon them by his campaign. The criminal complaints were mailed to the Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate.

Many of these practitioners recounted how Falun Gong returned them to health and gave them a new outlook on life. Their dream to live a healthier and happier life was shattered, however, when Jiang Zemin launched a nationwide campaign to eradicate the practice in 1999.

Simply for refusing to give up their belief, they were arrested, detained, and tortured, and had their homes ransacked and personal belongings seized. Many also saw their families implicated for their belief, while some were also forced to pay huge fines.

The Shanghai practitioners who filed criminal complaints include factory employees, engineers, and teachers.

Below, we profile a few of these practitioners:

Ms. Shao Hongzhen (邵鸿珍), 65, used to work in a factory. She was brutally tortured in prison and detention centers after the persecution started, including being force-fed, beaten, and held in solitary confinement. When she went on a hunger strike in detention in 2006, she was force-fed in the prison hospital. Her arms and legs were tied to the four corners of a bed and a tube was inserted into her stomach.

Ms. Cui Baokun (崔保坤), 73, was a principal engineer before she retired. From 2000 to 2003, she was twice arrested and detained for a total of over 100 days. After she was arrested a third time in September 2004, she was sentenced to three years in prison.

Mr. Wang Bingke (王兵科), 39, a middle school teacher, was arrested four times between 2000 and 2008. He was sentenced to three years of probation following his third arrest in March 2007. When he was arrested again a year later, he was incarcerated until October 2010. His school fired him after his release.

While he was detained and imprisoned, Mr. Wang was deprived of sleep, severely beaten, held in solitary confinement, and forced to sit on a small stool for a long time.

Mr. Fa Zhengping (法正平), 69, was a middle school teacher before he retired. He was given two years of forced-labor twice, in 2001 and in 2005. He was arrested again in December 2008 and was sentenced to three years in prison.

He was tortured in the labor camps and prison. He was force-fed unknown drugs. For a long period of time, he was not given enough food and only allowed to sleep two hours a night. He was once shocked with four electric batons at once. He was dressed in a heavy sweater and down coat on hot summer days and was once tied up for more than 20 days in a row.

Mr. Fa was also tied to a metal fence with seven ropes for a long time.

Due to the torture, Mr. Fa lost almost all his hearing for a short period of time, and he had trouble seeing and remembering things. He passed out and fell down several times while he was being tortured. He was unable to walk or think properly afterwards. He sustained severe bruising after being tied up.

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 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.