(Minghui.org) New Zealand resident Mr. Liang Zhanpeng filed a criminal complaint with the Chinese Supreme People's Procuratorate, against Jiang Zemin, former head of the Chinese communist regime, for initiating the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999.
Mr. Liang, 43, began practicing Falun Gong in 1993. He was arrested three times between 2000 and 2002, and detained in detention and brainwashing centers for a total of almost one-and-a-half years, for speaking out for his belief.
Mr. Liang was tortured while in detention. He was deprived of sleep, and force-fed with chili water. The guards hit him with metal chains and submerged his head in a bucket of water while holding him upside down. He was also forced to undergo brainwashing and perform hard labor.
Arrested for Petitioning in Beijing
Mr. Liang went to Beijing on February 1, 2000, where he petitioned the government to stop persecuting Falun Gong. He was arrested and detained in an underground office for two days before being returned to Guangzhou – a city about 1,300 miles from Beijing.
The leadership from his workplace tried to persuade him not to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong, but he refused. After his release, 15 days later, he was demoted from a manager to a general staff position, and his salary was reduced.
Police Extort 2,000 Yuan from Parents
Despite pressure from police and his workplace, Mr. Liang returned to Beijing to appeal for justice for Falun Gong on July 15, 2000. He was arrested again and taken back to Guangzhou. The police forced his parents to pay them 2,000 yuan at that point.
He was transferred to the Dongshan Detention Center on July 22, 2000, where he was forced to perform manual labor for over 15 hours per day.
“I made export goods such as toys, plastic flowers, and Christmas lights. The guards made a huge profit, but we received nothing.” Mr. Liang said.
“I was held in a cell with inmates who abused drugs and were diagnosed with hepatitis and another infectious diseases. There were 26 people in this 430 square foot cell, and the sanitary conditions were terrible.”
He continued, “I once had a cut in my forefinger, and it festered, but I still had to make Christmas lights.”
Mr. Liang was detained for 83 days and released on October 13, 2000.
Brainwashing
Mr. Liang was arrested at home on January 21, 2001.
“A group of police broke into my home at around 11:00 p.m. and took me to the Dongshan Brainwashing Center. Many fellow practitioners were arrested at the same time. I was held in isolation, forced to watch videos defaming Falun Gong, and deprived of sleep at times,” said Mr. Liang.
Because he refused to give up his belief, the 610 Office – the extralegal agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong – transferred him to the Huangpu Brainwashing Center on March 8, 2002.
Located inside the Guangzhou Drug Rehabilitation Center, Huangpu Brainwashing Center is a concentration camp operated by the 610 Office. Special staff there are trained to torture practitioners.
Practitioners are deprived of their freedom and detained in isolation. There is a camera in every cell, and every practitioner is monitored by the guards, including while taking showers and using the restroom.
The staff often cover the windows with newspapers, so that no one can see them torturing practitioners.
Mr. Liang recounted, “The guards didn't care whether you were male or female, or of any particular age. They torture everyone to the breaking point. I saw a female practitioner in her sixties brutally beaten by the guards. She had bruises on her face and all over her body.”
Mr. Liang was beaten with metal chains and a broomstick. When he lost consciousness, the guards poured water on him and continued the beating after he woke up. The guards also tore off his fingernails.
Sleep deprivation was another method used to torture practitioners. They are also forced to watch videos that slander Falun Gong.
“After being denied sleep for a few days, I was close to a mental breakdown,” he said in the complaint.
In attempts to force him to give up Falun Gong, the guards held him upside down and dunked his head into a water bucket or a toilet bowl. “We won't let you die. We will make you live to suffer,” the guards shouted.
When Mr. Liang went on a hunger strike to protest the torture, the guards force-fed him with alcohol and chili water.
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.
