(Minghui.org) Forty-three Falun Gong practitioners from Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province have filed lawsuits against former leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Jiang Zemin in December 2015. They hold him responsible for launching the brutal suppression of Falun Gong in July 1999, which resulted in their being tortured in a brainwashing center and incurring financial losses.

Brainwashing centers, also referred as “black jails,” were unlawfully set up to try to force Falun Gong practitioners to renounce their belief, or “transform.”

Financial Incentive for Brainwashing Centers

Brainwashing centers make a lot of money persecuting Falun Gong practitioners. If a practitioner does give up his belief, the brainwashing center gets a large bonus from the government. The more practitioners that capitulate, the more money they make.

Liu Xiping, the director of Daqing 610 Office, once said, “Our provincial 610 Office set up brainwashing centers to make money.”

When practitioners were released from the detention centers where they were initially held after being arrested, they were taken to a brainwashing center. They were forced to pay large sums of money – from 10,000 to 50,000 yuan – as the "fee" for staying in the brainwashing center.

Mr. Guo Shuyan was forced to pay 20,000 yuan, and Ms. Song Xiaofen was forced to pay 10,000 yuan.

Ms. Tan Xiumei and Ms. Wang Xiaohong worked at the same company. Their company was forced to pay 100,000 yuan to the Qiqihar Brainwashing Center as a “transformation” fee.

The company that Mr. Li Yequan worked for had to pay 30,000 yuan to the brainwashing center. He was told that the funds would be deducted from his salary.

Ms. Liu Shufen was fired by her company because she refused to give up her belief. Her family couldn't afford to pay the brainwashing “fees.” In the end, her former company paid 20,000 yuan to the authorities.

Ms. Zhang Linying's company was told to pay a 50,000-yuan “transformation fee” for her release. Her company claimed that they couldn’t afford it, so Ms. Zhang's family ended up having to pay it.

Torture

When the practitioners first arrived at the brainwashing center, they were smiled at and well cared for. But when they refused to renounce their belief, they were tortured.

Injections

Ms. Zhang Shuyun was arrested and taken to the 721 Brainwashing Center in 2012. She was held down on the concrete floor and stepped on. Local 610 Office agents beat her.

They gave her injections in her armpits. When she screamed in pain, they got a bigger needle.

Ms. Zhang's armpits swelled up, and the excruciating pain made her incontinent. Her face and body were covered with bruises from the beatings.

Forced-Feeding

Ms. Liu Ying, a nurse from Daqing City People's Hospital, was arrested in 2012 and was later taken to the Yichun Brainwashing Center and force-fed.

Her arms and legs were tied to a chair so that she couldn't move. Around five men were in charge of her. One pulled her hair, another pried her mouth open and beat her, another one pinched her armpits and then force-fed her through her mouth and nose. She nearly suffocated several times. She was brutally force-fed four to five times a day.

Ms. Liu still refused to give up her belief, so they handcuffed her and hung her up. They slapped her in the face and swore at her. She was then cuffed to the radiator for 20 days. She has a scar on her eyebrow from the beatings.

Forced to Squat and Handcuffed

Ms. Shi Jing, a Daqing Electricity Supply Company employee, was taken to the Qinglongshan Brainwashing Center in Heilongjiang Province in 2013.

Her mouth and neck were wrapped with tape because she refused to renounce her belief. Her hands were cuffed to two heavy chairs, and her arms remained straight. Soon after, her arms started to swell and her hands turned black because the handcuffs were so tight.

She tried to scream in pain, but they wrapped more tape around her mouth and neck.

Ms. Shi was tortured by being forced to squat and handcuffed at the same time. Her hands were stretched out and cuffed to two different places, which forced her to crouch in an awkward position for over 10 hours.

Torture reenactment: Cuffed in a squatting position

Head Covered with Plastic Bag

Ms. Fu Chenghua from Daqing City was taken to the 721 Brainwashing Center in June 2012. In order to get her to renounce her belief, they forced mustard oil into her mouth, covered her head with a plastic bag, deprived her of sleep, and slapped her in the face.

The 43 Falun Gong practitioners who have filed complaints against Jiang Zemin are:

Ms. Li Hua, Mr. Yu Shuang, Ms. Han Lihua, Ms. Li Junying, Ms. Yuan Lixue, Ms. Ren Yuhong, Ms. Wang Xiaoli, Ms. Wang Derong, Ms. Yao Qingyun, Mr. Bai Yufu, Ms. Cheng Qiaoyun, Mr. Tie Zhijie, Mr. Li Yuquan, Mr. Yang Jianqing, Ms. Chuai Jie, Mr. Feng Xikui, Ms. Fu Chenghua, Mr. Liu Fenglin, Ms. Cui Hongxia, Ms. Cong Lixia, Mr. Zhou Hongbo, Ms. Wang Fujuan, Mr. Zhang Bin, Ms. Liu Ying, Mr. Cao Jingdong, Ms. Cui Hongyan, Ms. Liu Shufen, Ms. Shi Jing, Ms. Zhen Xiuqin, Mr. Yang Chunling, Ms. Zhang Linying, Ms. Ma Lili, Mr. Guo Shuyan, Ms. Qiu Shuqin, Ms. Song Xiaofen, Wang Xilian, Ms. Tan Xiumei, Ms. Zhao Weihong, Ms. Zhao Xiuying, Ms. Wang Xiaohong, Ms. Xu Shufen, Ms. Zhang Shuyun, and Mr. Huang Weichao.

Background

In 1999, Jiang Zemin, as head of the Chinese Communist Party, overrode other members of the Politburo Standing Committee 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 Communist regime 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 now allows its citizens to be plaintiffs in criminal cases, and many practitioners are exercising that right to file criminal complaints against the former dictator.