(Minghui.org) Less than one year after an 81-year-old retired professor finished serving a two-year term for his faith in Falun Gong, the authorities suspended his pension and demanded that he return the funds he received during the imprisonment.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Ren Shouzhi, the retired director of the Distance Education Department at Jidong County Adult Technical School in Heilongjiang Province, was arrested on September 29, 2016 after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong.
Mr. Ren was sentenced to a two-year prison term and a 10,000 yuan fine by the Jidong County Court on May 19, 2017. His appeal was rejected by the Jixi City Intermediate Court. He was taken to the Jixi Prison on July 17, 2017.
In prison, Mr. Ren was forced to sit on a hardwood bed motionlessly from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. every day. He was not allowed to clean his clothes or wash for over 20 days. He was emaciated, with blisters and blood on his toes, ankles, and buttocks.
Mr. Ren was transferred to Hulan Prison on September 25, 2017, where the living conditions were miserable. Four detainees shared one bed, and he could only sleep on his side. Without a pillow, he had to put his head on his arm, which caused neck issues for him and numbness in his arm.
Torture reenactment: Sleeping on one’s side
He tried to file a motion to have his case reconsidered, but officials refused to submit his paperwork. A guard surnamed Wang said to him, “You can go ahead and write it, but I won’t deliver it for you. Is there any use for you to file a lawsuit against the government?”
After two years of torture, Mr. Ren was released on May 1, 2019, only to have his pension suspended by the Jidong County Social Security Office starting in January 2020.
Shang Shilong, the social security office director, found Mr. Ren and talked to him on April 2, 2020, ordering him to return the funds he had received during his prison term, as the condition for his pension reinstatement.
Mr. Ren refused to comply. He said it was the communist regime who violated the law in wrongfully sentencing him in the first place, and he didn’t do anything wrong in upholding his faith. He demands that the social security office immediately reinstate his pension.
Related report:
Educator Imprisoned for Two Years Following Eighth Arrest for His Belief
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Category: Accounts of Persecution
