(Minghui.org) Over 50 Falun Gong practitioners in the Shuangcheng District of Harbin City were arrested on May 6, 2016. The police broke into and ransacked their homes, seizing personal belongings. Most of the practitioners were arrested at their homes.

All of those arrested had filed criminal complaints against Jiang Zemin, the former Chinese Communist Party leader who launched the regime's brutal persecution of Falun Gong in 1999.

The arrests were led by Li Shuzhi, chief of the Shuangcheng District Police Department, and Xie Diancheng from local 610 Office.

Practitioner Ms. Liu Yanyi was arrested at around 5:00 p.m. Over 20 plainclothes officers from Shuangcheng District Police Department and the Lanling Town Government broke into Ms. Liu's apartment. They confiscated two computers, 7,000 yuan in cash, and other belongings. Ms. Liu is being held at the Harbin City Detention Center.

The police targeted Ms. Chen Xiuzhi and went to Duole Supermarket, where she worked, most likely because they could not find her at home. They asked the shoppers if they practiced Falun Gong. Non-practitioners were ordered to leave. Mr. Dong Wencheng, a practitioner, was arrested.

When Sun Haixian, the father of the supermarket owner, tried to stop them, he was forced into a police car as well. His son Sun Guopeng shouted, “You guys broke into my store and took people away without warrants. Aren't you acting like lawless thugs?” One of the plainclothes officers replied, “Yes, we are.”

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 during 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.