(Minghui.org) A 62-year-old retiree in Baiyin City was recently sentenced to 1 year and 2 months for filing a criminal complaint against former Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin for initiating the persecution of Falun Gong.
Mr. Chen Fanghua credits Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline based on the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, for returning him to health. Shortly after he began the practice, he coughed up an almond-sized lung tumor. Given his personal experience with Falun Gong, he never wavered in his faith despite the relentless persecution.
Mr. Chen’s determination to practice something that has kept him healthy has landed him in police custody multiple times. He was given 3 years in prison back in 2008. In June 2015, he joined numerous other Falun Gong practitioners in filing a lawsuit against Jiang for launching the persecution of Falun Gong that resulted in his past imprisonment.
The local police began to harass him as soon as they learned of his lawsuit. He was home on October 15, 2015, when officer Liu Yongqing and others arrested him. They released him on bail hours later in response to his wife’s adamant demands.
Officer Liu submitted Mr. Chen’s case to the local procuratorate on January 21, 2016. To avoid being tried, Mr. Chen left home and moved from place to place. The police kept harassing his wife, trying to find out where he was.
Mr. Chen returned home about ten months later and was seized at a friend’s father’s funeral on November 14. The police released him later that night.
The same thing happened on November 25, when the police arrested him, only to release him hours later.
Mr. Chen received a court notice on February 27, 2017, saying his court date was set for March 1. He once again left home to avoid going to trial.
The police went to his home the next day and threatened his wife, ordering her to sign a document she didn’t quite understand. She put down her name out of fear.
Mr. Chen returned home weeks later. Officer Zhang and two people from the local court showed up on March 22 to try to get him sign the same document his wife was forced to sign. He refused.
The police arrested him on June 15 and took him to Pingchuan District Detention Center.
The court called Mr. Chen’s wife in recently to say he had been sentenced. It is unclear whether a trial was ever held.
After the persecution began in July 1999, Mr. Chen was constantly harassed by the Party secretary of his then-employer Jingyuan Coal Mine Group. His company detained him on January 21, 2001, and later fined him 200 yuan, even though they had no authority to make an arrest.
Sun Jie, a section chief of Pingchuan Police Department, broke into Mr. Chen’s home on February 22, 2002, and turned everything upside down. His officers smashed furniture and confiscated Falun Gong books, about 5,000 yuan in cash, earrings, rings, clothes, and other personal belongings.
They took Mr. Chen to Pingchuan Police Station and handcuffed him to a heating pipe. A few hours later, Sun and five officers interrogated Mr. Chen using torture. They beat him so badly that they knocked out one of his teeth. They kicked his back and injured him severely.
Mr. Chen was sent to Pingchuan Detention Center three days later. The police had planned to transfer him to Gansu Province First Forced Labor Camp on March 27, 2002, but the labor camp declined to admit him after noticing his injuries.
The police had to release Mr. Chen, but they kept harassing him at home. His company suspended his pay for the next 15 months.
Liu Junrui, another section chief of Pingchuan Police Department, led his officers to break into Mr. Chen’s home on April 22, 2008. They confiscated two computers, one printer, one brand new cell phone, two MP3 players, one box of photo paper, and several boxes of copy paper.
Mr. Chen was tried on August 26, 2008, and sentenced to 3 years in prison. His appeal was rejected and he was transferred to Lanzhou Prison on May 25, 2009. He was brutally tortured.
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 during the past 18 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 organization, 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.
In its “registration system reform opinions,” the Supreme People's Court in China claimed that it would guarantee the registration and processing of all complaints filed. This new policy was to take effect on May 1, 2015.