(Minghui.org) Ms. Tang Qingying, 75, who lives in Huaihua City, Hunan Province has been denied access to her pension account since October 1999. Her latest request in 2023 to regain access to her money was denied. She was also videotaped against her will and the footage was used in a news program on TV as someone who was misled by Falun Gong to forgo medical care and ruin her health.
Falun Gong is a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Tang Qingying, a retiree of Hecheng District Bureau of Statistics in Huaihua City, credits Falun Gong for resolving her hepatitis B, gastritis, cerebrovascular sclerosis, and throat pustules. She was imprisoned three times for upholding her faith. She was sentenced to 3 years in 1999, 7.5 years in 2003, and 4 years in 2014.
Ms. Tang’s case is different from other cases involving Falun Gong practitioners who lost their pensions due to the persecution. In most cases, the practitioners had no money deposited into their pension accounts. Ms. Tang had money deposited money into her account but her employer somehow managed to cut off her access to it.
Pension Passbook and Bureau-Allotted Apartment Seized Following First Prison Sentence
When Ms. Tang was sentenced in October 1999, the Huaihua City Finance Bureau had already deposited her October pension into her pension account (a bank account specifically used to deposit her pension). It is not known why the finance bureau would be involved in her pension disbursement when its role is to disburse funds to government agencies (such as Ms. Tang’s workplace) to cover their operating expenses (including paying employees). In China, social security officers are usually tasked with paying out retirement benefits.
Fu Hua, then director of Hecheng District Bureau of Statistics, somehow got hold of Ms. Tang’s pension passbook (a bankbook linked to her pension account) and decided to use the money. Ms. Tang had no access to the money.
It is not known how Fu was able to deny Ms. Tang access to her pension account. Since her pension account was a bank account, she should have been able to access the money without a physical passbook, unless Fu managed to have the bank freeze the account or made a deal with the bank to require her to always present the passbook before any transaction.
Despite repeated requests from Ms. Tang and her husband, Fu refused to return her pension passbook. While she was in prison, Fu also evicted her daughter from her apartment, which was allotted to her by the bureau. Fu rented the unit out.
90K Yuan of Her Pension Funds Misused After Her Second Prison Term
Ms. Tang made numerous requests to have her pension passbook returned after she finished serving her second prison term in 2011. Fu criticized her for “being a bad person who stubbornly practiced Falun Gong” and refused to return her passbook.
Fu and other bureau officials later used more than 90,000 yuan from Ms. Tang’s pension account to cover their personal expenses. They then gave her pension passbook to the finance bureau at an unknown date.
Access to Pension Still Denied After Third Prison Term
Fu retired around 2020, two years after Ms. Tang finished her third prison term. She talked to the new director, Yi Yusheng, several times to request the return of her pension passbook. Yi demanded to see a statement from her promising to not practice Falun Gong.
Ms. Tang reminded Yi that she was entitled to her pension benefits but Yi insisted that she submit a statement to not practice Falun Gong. He also warned her not to talk to him about Falun Gong anymore or else he would report her to the police.
Latest Request Denied and Defamed on TV in 2023
Ms. Tang filed a complaint with the Hecheng District Organization Department (the communist regime’s human resource management department) at some point in 2023 and requested that it investigate her employer and ensure she receive all future pension benefits as well as back pay covering the duration from October 1999 to the present.
Her husband received a call on August 4, 2023 saying someone would come to their home to discuss her complaint.
Six people showed up the next day. Two of them were from some agency of the Huaihua City and the other four were from the Hecheng District Organization Department. They told Ms. Tang that they received her complaint, investigated the matter, and arrived at a decision, which was to deny her request.
They said the reason was her three prison terms and her insistence on still practicing Falun Gong.
One of them used her cell phone and videotaped Ms. Tang without her consent.
Ms. Tang later saw a news segment on local TV showing the video the woman recorded of her. The narrator said that Ms. Tang fell ill and became incapacitated as a result of her practicing Falun Gong but she refused to seek medical care.
Her poor health was actually a result of the abuse she suffered during her three prison terms totaling 14.5 years. She became healthy after she took up Falun Gong in October 1996, only to have her health damaged after repeated imprisonment.
Related Reports:
Hunan Woman Has Her Pension Suspended for 21 Years for Upholding Her Faith
Nine Falun Gong Practitioners in Haihua City, Hunan Province, Arrested for Their Belief
Mother and Friend Detained for Trying to Observe a Trial
Cases of Falun Gong Practitioners Arrested While Going About Their Lives
Officials from Huaihua City 610 Office Arrest Over a Dozen Practitioners
Four Women Tried for Seeking the Release of Other Practitioners
Hunan Province: Complaint Filed Against Perpetrators of Unlawful Sentencing
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