World Record Holding Athlete Sues Jiang Zemin

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Zhang Qingyuan, 48, from Wuhan City is a former athlete who participated in the Fourth Far East and South Pacific Games for the Disabled in 1994. He broke the world record in the men’s triple jump and won gold.

Mr. Zhang recently filed a criminal complaint against former Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin for starting the persecution of Falun Gong, which resulted in his past incarcerations. He was arrested seven times, sentenced to four years in prison and held in a brainwashing center for six months.

While incarcerated, Mr. Zhang was tortured with various methods including being beaten, deprived of sleep, forced to stand against a wall for extended periods, and being force-fed through his nostrils. He was also verbally abused.

Below is an excerpt from his criminal complaint:

I went to Tiananmen Square on January 1, 2001, to protest the persecution of Falun Gong by holding up a banner. I was arrested, beaten and taken to the Huangsongyu Police Station. I was interrogated, threatened and physically abused, but I refused to cooperate with the police. I was taken to Tianjin the next day and released.

I was arrested again on November 5, 2001, by officers from the Wuhan City Police Department Domestic Security Division for mailing letters that explained the facts about Falun Gong.

I was taken to the Wuhan City No. 2 Detention Centre and later transferred to the Erdaopeng Brainwashing Centre in Jianghan District. I was forced to attend brainwashing sessions for six months. When I refused to renounce my belief in Falun Gong, I was deprived of sleep and forced to stand for a long period of time facing a wall.

I was then sent to the Hongjiadawan Detention Centre in Jianghan District, where I went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution. I was released on the 18th day of my hunger strike.

I went to Beijing for the second time to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong in January 2003. I was arrested and taken to the Dongfeng Police Station.

The police tortured me and tried to force me to tell them my name and address. When I did not cooperate, they shackled me on the tiger bench and beat me. I was tortured until after midnight. They also deprived me of sleep by not allowing me to close my eyes.

I was transferred to the Fangshan Police Department No. 2 Detention Centre the next day. I went on a hunger strike and was force-fed so many times that the feeding tube was covered with blood. I was released 37 days later. They dropped me off at a bus station and left.

I was arrested for the fourth time in July 2005 by officers from the Wuhan City Police Department and Domestic Security Division. They confiscated a computer, a printer and other personal items.

I was then taken to the Wuhan City No. 2 Detention Centre . I went on a hunger strike and was brutally force-fed via a finger-sized tube that was inserted through my nostril.

They later shackled my wrists and ankles to a wooden bed and left the feeding tube in me. I could not turn my body and was forced to urinate and defecate in my clothes. This torture continued for more than 20 days before I was released on bail.

The police tried to arrest me again in December 2005, but did not succeed.

During the Qingming Festival in April 2006, I was arbitrarily arrested on the way to my hometown in the countryside to visit my ancestors’ tomb. Officers from the Wuhan City Police Department Domestic Security Division took me to the Wuhan City No. 2 Detention Centre, and I was issued an arrest warrant.

I was illegally tried in the Wuhan City Intermediate Court on April 7, 2006. I again went on a hunger strike to protest the mistreatment for over 20 days and was eventually released on bail.

On June 1, 2006, officials from the Domestic Security Division and the Wuhan City Intermediate Court delivered a court document to my home. It was a notice sentencing me to four years in prison. I was forced to leave home to avoid further persecution.

Officials from the 610 Office and the Domestic Security Division pressured my workplace in 2008 to dismiss me and withhold my allowance as a provincial model worker, as well as the allowance for people with disabilities. My sources of income were completely cut off.

Before the Beijing Olympics took place in 2008, officers from the Domestic Security Division tried to arrest me. They searched all of my relatives’ and friends’ homes and arrested a family member.

I decided to write an article to expose the persecution that I have suffered, and it was published on Minghui.org. The police then put my name on their list of Falun Gong practitioners to target. I left home again to avoid arrest.

I was arrested in February 2011 for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong in a rural area. I was held in the local detention centre. I did not cooperate with the guards and refused to tell them my name and address. I went on a hunger strike to protest my arrest and was released several days later.

 

"Tiger Bench" is one of the torture methods used on practitioners. Practitioners' knees are tightly tied on a "Tiger Bench" [a small iron bench]. Usually some hard objects are inserted underneath the practitioner's lower legs or ankles to make it harder for them to tolerate this abuse.
“Tiger Bench” is one of the torture methods used on practitioners. Practitioners’ knees are tightly tied on a “Tiger Bench” [a small iron bench]. Usually some hard objects are inserted underneath the practitioner’s lower legs or ankles to make it harder for them to tolerate this abuse.

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 17 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 allows its citizens to be plaintiffs in criminal cases, and many practitioners are now exercising that right to file criminal complaints against the former dictator.

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