(Minghui.org) A 58-year-old woman in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, had her monthly subsidy stopped on October 21, 2023, as she sought to reinstate her pension that has been suspended since April 2018.
Ms. Qian Youyun’s ordeal stemmed from her three prison terms for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Qian was sentenced to three years in 2000 and brutally tortured in prison. She took early retirement in August 2014 at the age of 49 and was arrested four months later and sentenced to four years in prison. While she was serving her second prison term, her local Jiangxia District Social Security Office issued a notice in April 2018 ordering her to pay back the pension benefits issued to her between 2000 and 2003 (during her first prison term) and between December 2014 and April 2018 (the majority of her second prison term). She didn’t have money to pay and the social security office suspended her pension to pay back her past “pension debt.”
When Ms. Qian finished her second prison term in December 2018, she tried to have her pension reinstated. But before her efforts bore fruit, she was arrested again in April 2019 and sentenced to two years in prison. After she was released in April 2021, she resumed her efforts to reinstate her pension. The Jiangxia District Social Security Office agreed to issue her a 1,000-yuan monthly subsidy after she appealed to various government agencies. Since they still refused to reinstate her pension, she filed a lawsuit against the social security office with the Jiangxia District Court.
The court, however, worked to frame her instead of upholding justice for her. A few court workers alleged that Ms. Qian had mailed them Falun Gong informational materials and reported her to the Jiangxia District 610 Office and the Political and Legal Affairs Committee, both extra-judicial agencies tasked with overseeing the persecution of Falun Gong. The two agencies then directed the Zhifang Police Station to arrest her on September 14, 2023. They gave her 15 days of administrative detention at a local lockup.
On September 26, 2023, the police took Ms. Qian from the lockup to attend her court hearing. She objected to the hearing as her lawyer was not present. It is unclear whether her lawyer was not notified of her hearing or whether he just couldn’t make it.
Judge Song Yaojing ordered the hearing to go ahead and Ms. Qian remained silent in protest. Song then ruled to dismiss the case because Ms. Qian “had voluntarily withdrawn her case against the social security office,” which couldn’t be further from the truth.
Ms. Qian proceeded to file an appeal with the Wuhan City Intermediate Court. She also mailed an administrative reconsideration request to the Jiangxia District Judicial Bureau, requesting the agency to investigate the social security office’s unlawful decision to suspend her pension. By law, no government agency should forfeit any retiree’s retirement benefits, which are lawfully earned assets.
Peng Peng of the Jiangxia District Political and Legal Affairs Committee summoned Ms. Qian to his office on October 21, 2023. He defamed Falun Gong and ordered her to sign some paperwork to consent to the social security office’s decision to suspend her pension. She refused to comply, only to see the social security office stop her monthly subsidy of 1,000 yuan starting that day.
Ms. Qian’s husband only has 2,000 yuan in monthly pension income. They are struggling to make ends meet.
Ms. Qian used to suffer from asthma and some other illnesses. She was also a gambler who played mahjong (a table game) all day long. All her symptoms disappeared after she took up Falun Gong on May 13, 1998. Her husband was in awe when she carried a heavy tank of propane to their third-floor apartment one day. He said, “Wow! You’re amazing! You haven’t been able to do this for so many years!” He was also pleased to see her quit playing mahjong.
Ms. Qian’s colleagues at the Jiangxia District Grain Bureau were amazed by her changes too. They noted that she often took the initiative to clean the offices and public spaces.
In 2006, Ms. Qian became a ticket agent on Bus 901 in the municipal public transportation service bureau [in China, many buses have ticket agents on board]. Such a position was considered a “fat position” with a lot of grey income but she never pocketed any ticket sales money as many others did. Every time when the bus returned to the parking lot at the end of the day, she would clean the bus up all by herself even though it was not part of her job responsibilities.
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