(Minghui.org) A 68-year-old Shanghai woman has her pension suspended since January 2021 because she once served three years for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Shi Yajuan retired from Shanghai Guotai Rubber, Plastic and Hardware Company in 2005, after she reached the retirement age of 50. She was arrested on March 12, 2007, for her faith in Falun Gong and later sentenced to three years in prison. She was released in March 2010.
On December 5, 2020, more than a decade after her prison release, Ms. Shi received a notice from the Huangpu District Social Security Service Center in Shanghai, saying that she must report to them within five days of receipt of the notice to settle some pension overpayment to her. The notice stated that overpayment included the pension benefits issued to her during three-year imprisonment (from April 2007 to March 2010).
Ms. Shi soon visited the social security service center. A staffer there showed her two documents issued by China’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS). One was [2001] No. 44 issued on March 8, 2001, and the other was [2003] No. 315 issued on July 7, 2003, with the second being additional explanations of the first. Both documents basically stated the same thing, that was, retirees serving time must forfeit their pension benefits during their imprisonment.
The staffer then showed Ms. Shi the Social Security Service Center’s calculation of the supposedly “overpayment” to her. She “owed” a total of 139,269.60 yuan to the social security service center, including the pension benefits issued to her during her three-year imprisonment, as well as the annual cost-of-living adjustment to pension benefits issued to her since her prison release (from April 2010 to December 2020). The staffer said they were trying to claw back the cost-of-living adjustment as well because she was deemed ineligible for those annual raises due to her faith in Falun Gong.
Ms. Shi argued that all her pension benefits were all lawfully earned income and she thus owed nothing to the social security service center. Her pension was then suspended beginning in January 2021 to “pay back the overpayment she owed.”
It has been 32 months (January 2021 – August 2023) since Ms. Shi’s pension was suspended. According to the Social Security Service Center, her monthly pension benefit was scheduled to be 4,504.32 yuan in 2021. If using that figure (ignoring annual benefit increases), the suspended pension payments in the past 32 months have accrued to 144,140.8 yuan (=4504.4 yuan*32 months), which has already exceeded the alleged overpayment of 139,269.60 yuan.
Even by the Social Security Service Center’s own logic, Ms. Shi’s pension should have been reinstated as soon as she “paid back the overpayment.” However, Ms. Shi still has not received any pension benefits as of today, despite her repeated efforts to seek justice for herself.
Futile Efforts to Seek Pension Reinstatement
On February 8, 2021, Ms. Shi filed an application for administrative reconsideration of her pension situation with the Shanghai Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau. When she received no response, she called the Shanghai citizen hotline 12345 on February 18, 2021, to complain. The Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau then issued her “Administrative Reconsideration Application Receipt Notice” ([2021] No. 63).
A staffer from the bureau called Ms. Shi on the afternoon of February 26, 2021, saying that they could offer to issue her a monthly stipend of 1,200 yuan (far less than her pension income of 4,504.4 yuan).
Ms. Shi asked the caller what was the legal basis for suspending her pension and giving her a stipend instead. He didn’t answer but threatened her that it was no use to file administrative reconsideration. She thus turned down the stipend offer because she should never have been deprived of her lawfully earned pension in the first place.
Ms. Shi never received another response from the bureau besides the notice acknowledging the receipt of her application for administrative reconsideration.
She also filed a lawsuit against the Huangpu District Social Security Service Center, but the Pudong District Court declined to hear her case and said that her pension must be suspended to pay back the overpayment. She then visited the intermediate court in charge of the trial court. The higher court also refused to take her case on the grounds that her trial court must process her case first. She then returned to the trial court, which again refused to take her case and reiterated that her pension suspension was to pay back the overpayment.
In the next two years, Ms. Shi wrote to the Huangpu District Social Security Service Center about 20 times seeking to have her pension reinstated, but she never heard back from them.
Social Security Authorities Violate Laws in Suspending Her Pension
Ms. Shi reiterated a fact in her numerous appeals – her pension benefits are her lawful assets and should never have been forfeited under any circumstances. While the Huangpu District Social Security Center produced two MOHRSS documents as proof that the central government had prohibited retirees serving time from receiving pension benefits, no enacted law in China has ever indicated so.
Article 73 of the Labor Law stipulates: “Workers shall enjoy social insurance benefits in accordance with the law when they retire. The conditions and standards for workers to enjoy social insurance benefits shall be stipulated by laws and regulations. The social insurance benefits enjoyed by workers must be paid in full and on time.”
Ms. Shi emphasized that social security offices are just fiduciaries tasked with collecting and investing pension contributions and dispensing pension benefits. They are in no position to forfeit any retiree’s pension benefits, even if they are imprisoned for whatever reason. The Huangpu District Social Security Service Center’s suspension of her pension thus amounts to infringing upon her property rights.
Additionally, the Constitution has guaranteed citizens’ freedom of belief and Ms. Shi should never have been jailed in the first place, much less face financial persecution in the form of pension suspension.
Taking Up Falun Gong
Ms. Shi got a copy of Zhuan Falun, the main teachings of Falun Gong, in May 1996. She finished reading the book in two nights and identifies with the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to be a good person.
She no longer fought with others at home or at work. She gradually became more tolerant, considerate and calm. People who knew her commented that she changed into a much more cheerful, understanding, and caring person.
Ms. Shi also became healthy through her Falun Gong practice. The muscle on her right hand had atrophied for years, but totally recovered after she took up Falun Gong. She used to face the fainting risk (due to the heat expansion and cold contraction of the blood vessels) every year when the seasons changed or there were big changes in temperatures. With Falun Gong practice, however, she never fainted again during the weather changes.
Because of her positive experiences with Falun Gong, Ms. Shi never wavered in her faith after the persecution began in July 1999. She was repeatedly targeted for her faith in the past 24 years.
Detained for 45 Days in Beijing in 2001
Ms. Shi went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong on January 12, 2001 and was arrested at Tiananmen Square the next day. Two men in plain clothes stopped her and asked to see her ID. They then asked her if Falun Gong was good and she said yes. They pushed her into a van and drove her to the Qianmen Police Station in Beijing. The Shanghai government’s liaison office in Beijing picked her up and escorted her back.
At the Waitan Police Station in Shanghai, the police interrogated her for several hours. The Huangpu District Police Department gave her an arrest warrant and took her to the Pudong District Detention Center, where she was held for more than 20 days. The police then gave her another detention notice and kept her in custody for some additional time. She was detained for a total of 45 days.
Detained for More Than 10 Days During APEC China 2001 in Shanghai
During the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) China 2001, which was held in Shanghai, Ms. Shi’s local street committee tricked her into going to a brainwashing session held in a resort. She was held there for 10-15 days, during which time she was watched by two people around the clock and forced to watch TV programs slandering Falun Gong. She went on a hunger strike in protest and was cursed by the two people.
Detained Again During the 16th National Congress in 2002
During the Chinese Communist Party’s 16th National Congress in November 2002, Ms. Shi was placed under house arrest at the Nanjing Hotel in Huangpu District by the Waitan Police Station officers.
She was detained at the hotel for about 10 to 15 days.
Sentenced to Three Years in 2007 and Tortured in Prison
Ms. Shi was arrested on March 12, 2007, by several agents from the Jiaxing Road Police Station and Luwan District Domestic Security Office who had been following her. They raided her home and confiscated a desktop computer, two portable hard disks, two printers, some USB flash drives, three sets of Falun Gong audio lecture CDs, and some informational materials.
The Hongkou District Court sentenced Ms. Shi to three years on charges of “using a cult to undermine law enforcement,” the standard pretext used to frame and imprison Falun Gong practitioners.
While serving time at Team Five of Songjiang Women’s Prison, Ms. Shi was subjected to brainwashing and torture. The inmates monitoring her made up some exercise movements and ordered her to do them. The inmates had been trained by the prison guards to specifically “work” on Falun Gong practitioners by all means without facing any consequences.
Ms. Shi was not allowed to sleep until very late into the night but was woken up very early in the morning. She was only given a small amount of water to brush her teeth and wash her face every morning. There was no bathroom in the cell but she was not allowed to step outside to use the washroom in the hallway.
The inmates sometimes knocked her down on purpose repeatedly until her face turned pale. They’d then pause a bit before resuming the knock-down abuse again.
They also forced her to sit on a small stool motionless for long periods of time. One time she complained to them that she could no longer bear it. They ignored her saying that it’d be all right as long as she did not die. She started twitching and her body became stiff. The inmates then took her to the prison clinic. The doctor there measured her blood pressure and heartbeat. The inmates lessened the abuse of her a bit afterward.
Ms. Shi was also forced to do hard labor. Because she often could not finish the work quota, she was reprimanded at least once a month for at least two hours each time. In order to avoid being reprimanded, she worked extremely hard to try to meet the quota.
Detained for 50+ Days in 2016
Ms. Shi was arrested in 2016 after being reported for studying Falun Gong books at another practitioner’s home. The tipster was the street committee secretary in the host practitioner’s residential area.
Ms. Shi was taken to the Huangpu District Detention Center. One month later she was put on administrative detention and taken to a brainwashing center, where she was kept for another 20 days.
Copyright © 2023 Minghui.org. All rights reserved.
