(Minghui.org) Many Falun Gong practitioners living outside of China have recently joined those living in China in filing criminal complaints against Jiang Zemin. Among them is 76-year-old Ruirong Chen, currently living in Winnipeg, the capital of Manitoba Province, Canada.
According to an article published on Winnipeg Free Press on July 11, 2015, Ms. Chen was persecuted in China for her belief, and she submitted the complaint to China's Supreme Court, charging Jiang for suppressing Falun Gong.
Ms. Chen, retired teacher from Ziyang City in Sichuan Province, said that Jiang gave the order to ban Falun Gong, “He [Jiang] is the person most responsible—he should be punished by the law.”
“She was held under house arrest, had her savings and identity card taken away, and was publicly shamed and humiliated for practicing Falun Gong.” As a result, Ms. Chen fled her home for Chengdu, then came to Canada in 2009 to help her daughter with her new baby. In Winnipeg, she filed a successful refugee claim, fearing persecution if she returned to China.
“Falun Gong practitioners have been imprisoned, sent to work camps, and some have reportedly had their organs forcibly harvested—a subject Winnipeg human rights lawyer David Matas investigated and has written about in books,” reported the article.
“Chen has permanent resident status in Canada and can freely practice Falun Gong with her Winnipeg group, but she isn't content to leave the past in the past.”
She and other practitioners recently gathered outside the Canadian Museum for Human Rights to raise awareness of the brutality, and mourn those who died as a result of torture during detention, and those who were killed for their organs.
“Two of Chen's Falun Gong friends in her home county of Jiyang were arrested and imprisoned for extended periods and died shortly after being released from detention,” said the article.
They were among the 25 Falun Gong practitioners she met with every day in China. Before the suppression started, they met with other practitioners once a week at the Ziyang train station, where 1,000 people practiced Falun Gong together.
Ms. Chen began practicing Falun Gong in 1996, and benefited a lot from it. “She grew up during famine and had a lifetime of health problems—migraines, nausea, missed periods, hair loss, depression and anger. 'Sometimes I would sleep and wish that I would never wake up.'”
Although already in her fifties when she starting doing the Falun Gong exercises, “Within weeks of practicing it, she felt well for the first time in her life.” She said Falun Gong changed her life.
The mental benefits were also striking. “Even how I always felt angry -- it was very deep-rooted -- I don't feel that now.” Ms. Chen said, as she sat on the floor of a friend's home stitching a banner with the Chinese words, “We Treasure the Lives of the Chinese and Hope the World Understands the Truth.” The banner was being created for Tuesday's peaceful demonstration.
Falun Gong practitioner Maria Cheung said that among those who filed criminal complaints against Jiang, “Some have received an official acknowledgment of receipt. That's in sharp contrast to the past when those who complained were jailed and tortured.”
Matas said that the Chinese government has still not repealed its policy of repressing Falun Gong, “It's not clear things are getting better.” He said a power struggle in the Chinese leadership has seen some of the henchmen who persecuted Falun Gong practitioners arrested for corruption.