(Minghui.org) Nearly 80,000 residents in Tangshan, Hebei Province have signed their names in support of criminal complaints filed by Falun Gong practitioners against the former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin. Among them, 45,193 signed criminal reports against Jiang, and 34,804 signed the supporting petition.

Since May 2015, more than 200,000 complaints have been filed against Jiang with China's highest court, calling to prosecute the former Communist Party leader for initiating the violent persecution of Falun Gong in 1999.

Criminal reports signed by 45,193 Chinese in Tangshan Area

Supporting letter signed by 34,804 Chinese in Tangshan Area

Grassroots Voices

One woman who helped practitioners collect eight signatures said that she knew well how brutal the persecution is. “I installed a satellite dish in my office last August for watching NTDTV. Everyone at my work likes it.” The New York-based NTDTV broadcasts uncensored news into China as an alternative to state-controlled media in the country.

“My boss, a famous businessman, also likes it,” she added. “He said he saw many Falun Gong materials on his trips to Hong Kong and Taiwan. He was worried that the local government would harass him because of this dish, so he asked me to uninstall it. But, a few days later, he changed his mind—“I think this dish can bring good luck, since it broadcasts the truth. Go ahead and put it back.'”

A 60-year-old man in a village near Tangshan said to a practitioner, “All the Falun Gong practitioners I know are nice people. Why did Jiang Zemin persecute them? He was worried about the number of people practicing it threatening his political power. Isn't this ridiculous? So many people practice Falun Gong in many countries in the world. I've never heard of any government feeling threatened by Falun Gong.”

“Take Taiwan as an example,” he said. “Hundreds of thousands of people practice Falun Gong there, but the Taiwanese government has never been worried, and a lot of government officials publicly support Falun Gong.”

“The Communist Party and Jiang Zemin have harmed too many people, so they're paranoid. When Jiang was in power, all he brought to China were disasters. He should be brought to justice,” he concluded.

Criminal Reports by Practitioners' Families

Li Zhen, the mother of a Falun Gong practitioner, wrote in her criminal report, “Falun Gong has healed my daughter's diseases and harmonized my family. But my daughter has been arrested several times during the persecution. My family has lived in great pain. Jiang Zemin is the root of all these disasters.”

A man named Baoxiang wrote, “I don't practice Falun Gong, but my wife does. She has been arrested and put in prison. My reputation was damaged. When my wife was imprisoned, I had to take care of my two children. Because of their mother, the children were bullied at school. In the past ten-plus years, the whole family has suffered a lot financially and psychologically. It is Jiang Zemin who caused all this. He must be brought to justice.”

Two elementary school students, Sun Shuoshuo and Wang Shanshan, wrote that their grandmothers had been imprisoned because they practiced Falun Gong. After Shanshan's grandmother was released, she revealed that she had been tortured in prison for refusing to renounce her faith.