(Minghui.org) “Let me stay with you, Aunt. I need a place to stay. I don't want to move again,” said Lele to his aunt, who was temporarily caring for the then-preschooler, whose father, Mr. Zhong Chongbin, was imprisoned for practicing Falun Gong.
Mr. Zhong Chongbin
Lele was only 29 days old when his father was arrested in January 2002 and sentenced to two years of forced labor. His mother divorced his father about three years later, unable to bear the unending persecution of her husband. Over the next few years, Lele moved from one relative's home to another, as his father was in and out of detention for refusing to give up his belief.
The now middle-schooler was elated when his father, who has sole custody, returned home in May 2008, after four years of unlawful imprisonment. He didn't expect to see his father arrested again in June this year for filing a criminal complaint against former Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin for breaking up his family.
Mr. Zhong is detained at the Lianyungang Detention Center in Jiangsu Province, and his son is once again being bounced from one home to another.
Lele, Mr. Zhong Chongbin's son
Latest Arrest for Suing Jiang Zemin
Mr. Zhong and five practitioners, including his eldest sister, Ms. Zhong Jinjun, from Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, were arrested and had their home ransacked on June 12, 2015, after filing lawsuits against Jiang. Three practitioners were released that afternoon.
Ms. Zhong was released 13 days later, while Mr. Zhong and another practitioner, Ms. Yuan Chunli, are still being held at the Lianyungang Detention Center.
Upon Ms. Zhong's return, she went with three people, Mr. Zhong's ex-wife, a Falun Gong practitioner, and Ms. Yuan's mother, to ask for Mr. Zhong's and Ms. Yuan's release.
Kong Jie from the 610 Office said, “I can't do anything. They (the two practitioners) had done something illegal. The court and Procuratorate will act on it,” and left.
Three Previous Arrests and Torture
Mr. Zhong worked in a legal services center, and started practicing Falun Gong in 1999. One month into the practice, Jiang Zemin initiated the persecution of Falun Gong. Mr. Zhong refused to renounce his belief.
He was arrested three times, and was held for two years in a labor camp and four years in a prison. Below is an account of his previous detentions and the tortures.
1. Two Days in Small Hot Room
Mr. Zhong was arrested by police from the Xinhai Police Station in late July 2000, and was locked in a small concrete room for two days and one night. The ceiling was low and he could not stand up straight.
The weather was around 38-39 degrees Celsius (100-102°F). The heat was unbearable, but he was held there for two days.
2. Two Years of Forced Labor After Second Arrest
Mr. Zhong was arrested on January 9, 2002, and his house was ransacked by officers from the Lianyungang 610 Office and Lunan Police Station. He was sentenced to two years of forced labor.
Kong, from the 610 Office in Xinpu District, instructed the district branch police to torture Mr. Zhong. To prevent him from resisting the torture, they handcuffed his hands and legs. They also handcuffed his palms, which was extremely painful when the cuffs were pulled. Scars can still be seen today. The torture continued for a dozen days.
Instruments of torture: Handcuffs and leg irons
After the torture, he was detained at the Lianyungang Detention Center for nine months before being transferred to the Fangqiang Forced Labor Camp.
Mr. Zhong's kneecap was fractured from torture at the Lianyungang Detention Center, and he was taken for surgery at a hospital. He had not recovered from the surgery when he was transferred to the labor camp.
Labor camp guards hit his injured leg and poured cold water over it in an attempt to force him to renounce his belief. He was also beaten on other occasions. Mr. Zhong was released in January 2004.
3. Four Years of Imprisonment
Six months after his release, Mr. Zhong was arrested again in July 2004 by officers from the Xinpu District 610 Office. Officers Kong and Yang Guangwu took him to a hotel room.
Mr. Zhong and four other practitioners were handcuffed and forced to stand below the air conditioner with the wind blowing on them. The low temperature caused him to tremble. Mr. Zhong was taken to the Lianyungang Detention Center 20 days later.
He was then put on trial. He spoke in his own defense, as he has some legal knowledge. The judges and procurator adjourned the court session after hearing his defense. However, he was still sentenced to a four-year term at Hongzehu Prison. He appealed to the Intermediate Court, which upheld the sentence.
Mr. Zhong was tortured, which included being beaten by five people simultaneously. One even stomped and jumped on his legs. Inmates were ordered to torture Mr. Zhong by dragging his body along the ground and running, causing cuts and wounds over his entire body.
Mr. Zhong was at the end of his endurance and tried to commit suicide by banging his head against a wall extremely hard. When there was no pain, he understood that the founder of Falun Gong, called Master by practitioners, was protecting him, and that a practitioner should not commit suicide. The inmates and guards saw what had happened and were shocked. After that, they no longer tortured him as much.
Mr. Zhong's term was almost up in April 2008. But because of the Beijing Olympics, the prison escalated the torture. He was beaten by several people simultaneously and deprived of sleep.
When his term ended, the 610 Office refused to release him and took him to a hotel. They restricted his freedom and released him 20 days later.
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.
Related report:Lianyungang Police Arrest Practitioners for Attempting to Sue Former Dictator
