Having Served Seven Years and Had Pension Suspended for Eight Years, Elderly Woman Awaits Verdict for Her Faith

(Minghui.org) A 71-year-old woman in Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province, stood trial in Ranghulu District Court on August 2, 2022 for practicing Falun Gong. Due to her high blood pressure, Ms. Han Lihua was rejected admission to the detention center and is awaiting the verdict at home.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Ms. Han was arrested and had her home ransacked on November 22, 2020 by over 20 other police officers. She was released on bail the same day.

The police later submitted Ms. Han’s case to the Ranghulu District Procuratorate. She was scheduled to appear in court on July 1, 2022. She went there, but the bailiff didn’t allow her to enter the courtroom, with the excuse that she didn’t have a negative COVID-19 testing result. The prosecutor suggested to sentence her to eight years with certain amount of court fine.

The police made three attempts to take Ms. Han to the detention center, but she was rejected admission due to her high blood pressure. She hasn’t since received any update from the court about her case.

Past Persecution

Since the Chinese communist regime ordered the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, Ms. Han has been repeatedly targeted for her faith. She was held in a brainwashing center for six months, given a three-year forced labor term (she didn’t serve the term due to her health), and sentenced to seven years in prison.

Ms. Han was first arrested at home on November 16, 2000. She was held at four different detention locations for a total of five and a half months. She was given three years of forced labor on January 18, 2001, but was denied admission by the Harbin Drug Rehab Center due to her health.

Ms. Han was arrested again on September 25, 2001, after being reported by her supervisors at work for talking to them about Falun Gong. After four months of detention, she was extremely weak and went into shock several times. Only then did the police release her.

Ms. Han was arrested one more time at home on April 22, 2003, and held at a brainwashing center for six months. When she refused to write statements to renounce Falun Gong, the guards put her in solitary confinement, forced her to squat, and deprived her of sleep. They beat her if she moved when she was squatting.

Ms. Han’s next arrest was on May 4, 2008. The police confiscated her Falun Gong books, computer, printer, and paper cutter. After taking her to the police station, they cuffed her to a metal chair and interrogated her. One officer pushed over the chair while she was still in it. They kept her in the metal chair for five days before taking her to the Daqing Detention Center.

Ms. Han was sentenced to seven years by the Ranghulu District Court in late October 2008 and admitted to the Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison on January 14, 2009.

After she was released on October 4, 2014, the Daqing Social Security Bureau suspended her pension and ordered her to return the 180,000 yuan she had received during her prison term. They claimed that no retirees are to receive any retirement benefits while they are incarcerated, according to a policy issued by the General Office of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security in 2001.

Ms. Han argued that both the labor camp term and the prison term were acts of persecution and that no labor law requires the return of pension benefits dispensed during detention. There was no way she could afford to make a lump sum payment of 180,000 yuan. As a result, the Daqing Social Security Bureau has suspended her pension ever since.

Perpetrators’ contact information:

Leng Zhiqiang (冷志强), judge, Ranghulu District Court: [phone]Feng Guang (封光), prosecutor, Ranghulu District Procuratorate: [phone], [phone], [phone]

Related report:

Pension Already Suspended for Eight Years, 71-year-old Woman Tried Again for Her Faith