(Minghui.org) Nine Falun Gong practitioners, arrested during a group arrest in 2014, are still detained by police in Hebei Province. Each of them has filed lawsuits with the Supreme People's Procuratorate and Supreme People's Court against Jiang Zemin, the former head of the Chinese Communist regime. They hold him liable for the persecution of Falun Gong and the mental and physical torture they suffered.

4,300 Residents Sign Petition Calling for Release of the Nine Practitioners

Police arrested 42 practitioners from Hebei Province and Tianjin on August 17, 2014, during a private meeting in Cangzhou City, Hebei.

The Cangzhou Procuratorate approved the arrest of nine practitioners. All nine are detained and awaiting court trials.

Residents from Cangzhou and Tianjin signed a petition calling for the release of these nine practitioners. The number of signatures reached 4,300 by June 2015.

“We know these practitioners are innocent. We must help them,” said a bus driver when he signed the petition.

Among the nine practitioners, Mr. Hou Dongliang (侯东亮), Ms. Zhao Junru (赵俊如), Ms. Li Li (李丽), Mr. Chang Shouxuan (常寿轩), Mr. Xu Kai (徐凯), Ms. Cao Yanxiang (曹延香), and Ms. Kang Lanying (康兰英) are from Cangzhou. Ms. Zhao Xiang (赵翔) and Ms. Liu Lixin (刘立新) are from Tianjin.

Brief Summaries of Torture and Imprisonments

Ms. Zhao Junru: Endless Persecution

When Jiang Zemin launched the persecution, authorities took Ms. Zhao and her husband into a brainwashing center.

Her husband gave up Falun Gong because of the mounting pressure and fear. He abused Ms. Zhao in an effort to have her also renounce Falun Gong. He passed away in 2003.

Ms. Zhao remained steadfast in her belief and was thus arrested in winter of 2002. She was beaten and locked to a pole for a whole day in freezing weather.

She was arrested in 2003 again and taken to a brainwashing center. She was also frequently harassed at home.

Mr. Chang Shouxuan and Wife: Village Soldier Assigned to Keep Family Isolated

Mr. Chang and his wife were arrested in 2000. His wife was released after officials extorted 6,000 yuan from his family. He was sentenced to three years in prison.

Mr. Chang's son was 14 years old at the time. There was no one to take care of this boy while his parents were detained.

To prevent other practitioners from contacting Mr. Chang's family, a village soldier was assigned to guard his house.

Ms. Zhao Xiang: Persecuted Since 1999

Ms. Zhao was detained for a month in 1999 and officials extorted 400 yuan from her family before she was released.

She was arrested twice in 2000, detained for 15 days after the first arrest and sentenced to three years in prison after the second arrest.

Upon her release in 2003, the school where she worked fired her, and her husband divorced her.

She was arrested in 2006 and given 18 months of forced labor. She went on a hunger strike and was released on medical parole when she was in critical condition.

She was arrested in 2010 again. Police also ransacked her home.

Ms. Cao Yanxiang: Arrested for Inquiring About Arrested Practitioner

Ms. Cao Yanxiang was arrested alongside another practitioner for asking at a police station about the arrest of a practitioner in 2012. The police ransacked her house. They refused to meet with her 80-year-old mother, who was trying to get her released.

Mr. Xu Kai: Forced to Stand for Four Months

Mr. Xu was arrested in 2001 and detained for nearly two months. He lost his job.

Police arrested Mr. Xu in 2003 in front of his father who had surgery about 10 days earlier. Mr. Xu was detained for two months.

He was arrested in 2007 and given a year-and-a-half of forced labor.

He was forced to stand for four months. When his family visited him, he was carried out, expressionless, and too weak to talk.

To avoid another arrest, he went into hiding in 2012.

Ms. Li Li: Police Installed Tracking Device Under Car

Ms. Li was arrested in 2009 and held in a detention center for five months. She was forced to perform hard labor.

She found that police had installed a tracking device under her car in 2013. She removed it, so police ransacked her home in search of the device.

Ms. Kang Lanying: Force-Fed

Ms. Kang was detained in 2000 when she went to Beijing to peacefully protest for the right to practice Falun Gong. Her company terminated her employment contract.

She was arrested in 2002, went on a hunger strike, and was force-fed.

She was arrested again in 2009. She was brutally force-fed after holding a hunger strike.

Ms. Liu Lixin: Arrested, Harassed and Monitored

Ms. Liu and her husband were arrested in 1999. She was detained for 15 days and her husband for 30 days. Their home was ransacked.

Police arrested her again in 2000. She was sentenced to three years in prison.

Police arrested her in 2006 and sentenced her to 18 months of forced labor. She went on a hunger strike to protest being persecuted. She was released on medical parole because her health deteriorated.

She managed to escape before she was arrested in March 2007, but was arrested in July 2007.

Authorities also kept harassing and monitoring her at home.

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.