(Minghui.org) Four residents from Xinbin County, Liaoning Province were recently sentenced to prison by Tonghua County Court in Jilin Province.
The four Liaoning natives were arrested in nearby Tonghua while trying to mail out their criminal complaints against Jiang Zemin. They were accusing the former Chinese dictator of launching the persecution of Falun Gong, which led to their past detentions.
Mr. Deng Yuqing was sentenced to 3.5 years, while Mr. Zhang Guoyou, Mr. Zhang Fuchun, and Ms. Yan Guangling each received 3 years. At the time of writing, all four remain at Tonghua County Detention Center.
Mr. Deng has filed an appeal. Mr. Zhang Guoyou had intended to do the same, but he was deceived into signing a statement to waive his right to appeal. He's now on a hunger strike to protest.
Arrested While Dropping Off Criminal Complaints
As more and more practitioners filed lawsuits against Jiang Zemin, Xinbin County 610 Office instructed local post offices to stop processing criminal complaint letters. The four aforementioned practitioners visited nearby Tonghua on June 27, 2015, but the police there arrested them after a postal worker tipped them off.
The Tonghua County Procuratorate issued formal arrest warrants on July 18 and indicted them on October 14. Mr. Deng's family hired a lawyer to defend him, but Tonghua County Court rejected the lawyer's request to establish legal representation for his client.
The judge issued his decision on March 28, sentencing all four practitioners to prison for exercising their constitutional right to seek justice against Jiang Zemin.
Practitioner Deceived into Waiving His Right to Appeal
Mr. Zhang Guoyou was deceived into signing a statement saying that he “agrees to waive his right to appeal.” When he realized what he did, he asked to rescind his statement, but the detention center refused to give back the paperwork. In the meantime, his copy of the original verdict disappeared mysteriously. Without the original verdict, he wasn't able to complete the formal appeal application.
He has gone on a hunger strike in protest.
Past Persecution
Mr. Deng was given one year of forced labor in March 2008.
Mr. Zhang Guoyou was given three years of forced labor in June 2002.
Mr. Zhang Fuchun was sentenced to three years in August 2012.
Ms. Yan Guangling was detained for 15 days in December 2013 and fined 1,000 yuan.
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 over 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 now allows for citizens to be plaintiffs in criminal cases, and many practitioners are exercising that right to file criminal complaints against the former dictator.
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