(Minghui.org) A total of 34 Liaoyang County residents were arrested between August and November 2016 for filing criminal complaints against former Chinese dictator Jiang Zemin for ordering the violent suppression of Falun Gong.

Eighteen of the Falun Gong practitioners remain in detention at the time of writing. Ms. Song Cailian has been secretly tried without the knowledge of her family or lawyer. Guo Zhenxue, Hu Qinglian, Zhang Xiuxia, Song Shouyun, Ma Xihua, Zhang Shuhuan, and Li Guixia have been indicted and are facing trial.

The remaining 10 practitioners have yet to be indicted. They include Zhou Shuhuan, Liu Yujuan, Xie Baofeng, Wang Junlian, Li Guoxiu, Gao Yanshuang, Zhao Shujun, Deng Jiuying, Liu Wenhui, and Liu Zilan.

Chi Xiaoguang, chief of Chaoyang County Police Department, directed the arrests of above practitioners. He and his officers demanded 20,000 to 100,000 yuan in exchange for the release of each of the following 16 practitioners: Liu Guohua, Wang Chengshu, Zhu Fuyun, Liu Shuangyan, Qian Jilan, Li Fengzhen, Zhou Liying, Zhou Caifeng, Lei Jianhua, Wu Junxian, Gao Xiaojuan, Feng Huixiao, Yuan Guifan, Liu Xiuying, Liu Shuxian, and Tian Yulian.

Chi has a long history of participating in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. While a political instructor in a different city, he ordered the arrest of 15 practitioners in one day and got six of them sentenced to 7-12 years in prison. The other 9 practitioners were released after each paying 5,000 to 10,000 yuan.

Background

Jiang Zemin, as head of the CCP, overrode other Politburo standing committee members and launched the violent suppression of Falun Gong in July 1999.

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 is directly responsible for the inception and continuation of the brutal persecution.

Under his personal direction, the CCP established an extralegal security organ, the 610 Office, on June 10, 1999. This organization overrides the police and the judicial system in carrying out Jiang's policy regarding Falun Gong: to ruin their reputations, cut off their financial resources, and destroy them physically.

Chinese law now allows for citizens to be plaintiffs in criminal cases, and many practitioners are exercising this right to file criminal complaints against the former dictator.