(Minghui.org) A month after 85-year-old Ms. Han Guiyun was sentenced to three years and fined 10,000 yuan for practicing Falun Gong, the retired teacher in Yingkou City, Liaoning Province also had her pension suspended.
Ms. Han was arrested in a park on May 31, 2019, after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. She was released on bail the same day.
After her hearing by the Zhanqian District Court on March 10, 2021, the police took Ms. Han for a physical examination. She was found to have dangerously high blood pressure. She also vomited and was rejected admission by the local detention center.
A police officer and two people from the residential committee harassed Ms. Han on March 12. They said that if she agreed to sign a statement promising not to practice Falun Gong anymore, they would give her a light sentence and she would still receive 60% of her pension. They threatened to suspend her entire pension if she refused to comply. Ms. Han said she wouldn’t sign such a statement and they left.
The police made another attempt to detain Ms. Han in late April. She was denied admission by the detention center again due to her high blood pressure, a condition she has been struggling with in the past year due to constant harassment by the police.
Judge Wang Feng convicted Ms. Han on June 3 and delivered the verdict to her on July 2. The “evidence” used against her included the fact that she had been practicing Falun Gong since 1996 and that she possessed Falun Gong materials at home. The judge ordered her to pay the 10,000-yuan fine within ten days after receiving the verdict. He is also to issue a separate notice as to when she would start serving time. She appealed with the Yingkou City Intermediate Court, which ruled to uphold her original sentence.
Since July 2021, her monthly 4,600 yuan pension has been completely suspended. To date, a total of 32,200 yuan has been withheld. This has caused tremendous financial distress to her family, as she had been supporting her children for much of their living costs.
Ms. Han said the frequent harassment in the past year has caused tremendous mental distress to her. She is unable to stand up straight and has intensive back pain. Many of her teeth fell off, sometimes while she was eating.
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