(Minghui.org) The family members of Mr. Chen Guoxiang have filed a criminal lawsuit against former Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin, who started the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999.

Mr. Chen, a mining engineer from Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia, died in December 2005 at the age of 55 after being tortured for refusing to give up his belief in Falun Gong. The authorities repeatedly arrested, detained and extorted money from his wife, youngest son and daughter, who were also practitioners.

Mr. Chen's wife, Ms. Jia Guiqin from Chifeng City, began to practice Falun Dafa in 1998. Shortly after, her bone hyperplasia, leg pain and nasal inflammation that had been bothering her for years disappeared. She stopped being preoccupied with monetary gain and was no longer hot-tempered. Her dramatic changes in health and personality led her husband and children to become practitioners as well.

A happy family was then torn apart after the persecution started in July 1999. Ms. Jia gave this account in her criminal complaint.

Husband Dies After Being Tortured Twice in Forced Labor Camp

The police arrested and detained my husband in June 2000 and put him in Tumuji Forced Labor Camp for three years.

He was beaten, deprived of sleep for two weeks and brainwashed in the camp. My husband was tortured until he lost control of his bowels and almost went into shock. The guards beat our youngest son, who was in the same camp at the time, in front of him.

After he was released in April 2003, instead of letting him go home, the authorities put him in a brainwashing center and tortured him for two weeks.

Two months later the police went to my husband's dorm room at work and found Falun Dafa literature after an illegal search. They arrested and put him in Wuyuan Forced Labor Camp for another three years.

The guards repeatedly shocked the soles of his feet with electric batons for over a month. Under the extreme physical pain and mental pressure, he attempted to commit suicide twice.

The long term torture took a heavy toll on his health. He had severe fluid accumulation in his chest and abdominal cavities, pulmonary tuberculosis, and heart failure. Even when he was hospitalized, the police still handcuffed him to the bed frame.

Not wanting to take responsibility for his death, the authorities called us to take him home. We were forced to leave our home to avoid further persecution. Eight months later, my husband died on the road, in agony.

Suffering of My Youngest Son

My youngest son, Mr. Chen Yujin, used to be a thug who spent a lot of time in gaming rooms and billiard halls. After practicing Falun Gong, he became a different person. He was polite and responsible.

He was arrested in July 2000 for his belief and locked in the same forced labor camp as his father for three years. After that he was tortured in Chifeng Brainwashing Center for two weeks in April 2003.

A month after he was released, my son was taken away again and tortured in a detention center for three months.

In November 2011 the police arrested my son and ransacked our home without identifying themselves. The authorities put him in a forced labor camp for minors from April 2012 to December 2013.

The police put my son under house arrest after his release and labeled him a fugitive. As a result, he was unable to work and support his family.

Suffering of My Daughter and Me

The police arrested my daughter, Ms. Chen Huimin, at work in Chifeng City in October 2001. She was tortured in Hohhot Women's Forced Labor Camp for two years.

I was tortured in Tumuji Forced Labor Camp from June 2000 to August 2001. For two months from November 2001 to January 2002, I was incarcerated in a brainwashing center. For two weeks in March 2003 I was tortured in another brainwashing center. While I was incarcerated, my home was broken into twice and a significant amount of cash was stolen.

Suffering of My Oldest Son

My oldest son, Chen Quanshi, was the only non-practitioner in the immediate family. The authorities took him to a forced labor camp and forced him to publicly renounce Falun Gong. He refused and was humiliated in front of a crowd.

He worked at a school and the authorities had two teachers watching him around the clock. When the authorities couldn't find us, they went to his home and workplace to threaten him. They even harassed his in-laws. The pressure placed on him and his family was tremendous.

Financial Losses and Ostracized by Family and Friends

Over the years of persecution, the authorities have many times confiscated our property, and our home was broken into while we were incarcerated. We were not allowed to work freely without being persecuted, and my business was forced to close down. We experienced immense financial loss and the situation was dire.

Families and friends who didn't know why the persecution was wrong distanced themselves from us. My husband's brother humiliated and disowned him when he visited him in a detention center. Our neighbors helped the authorities monitor us.

Related report:Falun Dafa Practitioner Mr. Chen Guoxiang Dies as a Result of Persecution

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.