(Minghui.org) An unusual press conference was held about three months after former Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin openly launched a nationwide campaign against Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline based on the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
The press conference on October 28, 1999, was not organized by the Chinese communist regime. Instead, around 30 Chinese citizens gathered to tell their first-hand experiences of practicing Falun Gong, and call for an immediate end to the persecution. Journalists from Reuters, the Associated Press, and the New York Times attended the conference.
Ms. Lei Xiaoting, a high school teacher from Jilin Province, served as an interpreter at the special event. She was arrested within a week and wasn’t released until a year later. She was tortured and humiliated while in detention.
None of the abuse could shake her faith, because she knew there was nothing wrong with exercising her constitutional right to freedom of belief. Upon her release, she continued her efforts to inform the public of the illegality of the persecution. She was arrested again in 2009 and detained for more than one year.
Last year she joined many other Falun Gong practitioners in calling for Jiang Zemin to be prosecuted. The following are details of the persecution she endured, included in her criminal complaint.
Multiple Arrests and Detentions
Ms. Lei was arrested three times in Beijing for being involved in the protests against the persecution in July and September 1999. She was detained for 26 hours without food and denied bathroom use after one of the arrests.
In October 1999, Ms. Lei helped as a translator at the aforementioned press conference. Several days later the Beijing police took her away in the middle of the night to the First Detention Center.
Ms. Lei was transferred to Tongzhou District Detention Center, where the guards strip-searched her despite her protest. The next day she was physically punished and beaten. To humiliate her, the guards forced her to clean the latrines, and then shower outdoors where the guards could see her.
The guards beat her and tortured her when she couldn't remember the rules and when she did the Falun Gong exercises.
Tortured in Beijing Women's Prison
Ms. Lei was put on trial in February 2000. The court-appointed lawyer was ordered to enter a guilty plea for her, but she firmly defended her innocence of practicing Falun Gong.
She was given a two-year sentence and taken to Beijing Women's Prison on March 10. The guards tried to pressure her into giving up her practice. Two prisoners monitored her around the clock, documenting everything, including her mood, food intake, and sleep patterns.
Ms. Lei remained a steadfast practitioner. The guards then refused to allow any of the prisoners in the ward to work, meaning that they couldn't earn any credit to reduce their sentences. The other prisoners were also not allowed to sleep, because of Ms. Lei. They then turned hostile and abusive toward her.
The guards also threatened her elderly parents, urging them to persuade their daughter to give up her faith during their prison visits.
When the psychological torment didn't work, the guards began to physically abuse Ms. Lei. She was deprived of sleep for several days. One time she was forced to squat with her arms up for almost two weeks. As a result her left leg remained numb for a year.
While imprisoned, Ms. Lei had to do intense labor without compensation. She wrapped disposable chopsticks, sealed envelopes, and weaved decorative items. The work area was dark and the hours were long. She often worked weekends, and even when she was ill. She was released in November 2001.
Abuses in the Forced Labor Camp
The police arrested Ms. Lei on March 19, 2009, when they found Falun Gong literature in her bag. After being beaten and detained for two weeks, she was transferred to Jilin Women's Forced Labor Camp on April 1. She was not allowed contact with anyone she knew, and each day someone tried to threaten and brainwash her into giving up Falun Gong. One guard shocked her neck with an electric baton because she wouldn't give up the practice. For eight months she was denied showers. She was given a pot of water per month to clean herself.
Suspicious Blood Draw and Exam
A month after Ms. Lei arrived at the camp, all Falun Gong practitioners were told they had to have their blood tested, and no explanation was given. Two syringes full of blood were drawn from each practitioner. They were never informed of any results.
Some practitioners were forced to have health exams, even though they hadn't complained of any health issues. The authorities took several practitioners to a hospital against their will. A young practitioner was told that she had a heart problem. She insisted that she was perfectly healthy, and was thus sent back to the camp the same day.
In the camp, Falun Gong practitioners were treated worse than non-practitioners. They were not allowed to go to a hospital when they indeed fell ill, or when their ribs were broken from beatings, unless their condition was life-threatening. So it was highly unusual for the above-mentioned young lady to have her heart examined without asking for it.
The Chinese communist regime is known to harvest organs from incarcerated healthy Falun Gong practitioners for profit. They use blood tests and physical exams to screen potential organ donors.
Ms. Lei had to work hard in the camp, just like when she was in Beijing Women's Prison. She worked mostly with small decorative items that required tedious manual labor. She had to work every day except two holidays. She wasn't given a break when she had a toothache for a month. She once witnessed another practitioner be shocked with an electric baton when she refused to be treated like a criminal.
Related reports:Dafa Practitioner Lei Xiaoting in Critical ConditionCultivate Ordinarily, Give and Endure Silently Special Report: On One-Year Anniversary of the Press Conference Hosted by Falun Gong Practitioners in Beijing on October 28, 1999
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 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.
