(Minghui.org) When Mr. Ma Xiongde was released on August 29, 2022 after serving a 1.5-year term for practicing Falun Gong, he was still reeling from torture-induced complications sustained in prison. The 74-year-old resident of Wuzhong City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, had difficulty walking, struggled with incontinence, and was slow in reaction. He was also devastated to discover that the Wuzhong City Social Security Bureau had suspended his pension while he was still serving time.
The social security bureau, which is in charge of managing and distributing all retirees’ pension accounts, justified its decision by citing a new policy barring retirees who serve time in prison from receiving any retirement benefits, although no Chinese labor law has such a stipulation.
Zhang Xinyun and Wei Xiaobin, staff members of the bureau, were very rude towards Mr. Ma’s family when they sought reinstatement of his pension after his release. Zhang and Wei also claimed that Mr. Ma’s prison sentence automatically reduced his years of service to zero, resulting in zero benefit payments. They, however, were unable to produce any documents to justify their claim. Mr. Ma’s family also went to several other government agencies to seek his pension reinstatement, but to no avail. More than one year has passed since his prison release, but Mr. Ma is still not receiving any pension payments at the time of writing.
Mr. Ma, a retired watch factory engineer, and his wife, Ms. Zheng Fengying, 70, were arrested on February 22, 2021 for their shared faith in Falun Gong. Both of them were sentenced to 1.5 years with a 5,000-yuan fine on September 14, 2021 by the Litong District Court. Mr. Ma was released from the Shizuishan Prison on August 29, 2022 and Ms. Zheng was released from the Ningxia Women’s Prison in Yinchuan City in September 2022.
Prior to their latest sentencing, both Mr. Ma and Ms. Zheng have been repeatedly targeted in the past two decades for upholding their faith. They were each given two years of forced labor in 2001, with Ms. Zheng’s term later extended by two months and Mr. Ma’s term extended by ten months. After another arrest in 2004, Ms. Zheng was sentenced to three years with three years’ probation and Mr. Ma was given a five-year term. The couple were also arrested in 2012. Ms. Zheng was sentenced to seven years and Mr. Ma received seven and a half years.
Details of their past persecution have been reported in the first article below.
Related Reports:
Married Couple in Their 70s Imprisoned for Their Faith
Four Ningxia Residents Sentenced for Their Faith
Four Ningxia Residents Tried for Their Faith
Four Ningxia Residents Face Prosecution for Practicing Falun Gong
Ms. Zheng Fengying from Ningxia Secretly Sentenced to Seven Years in Prison
Wuzhong City: Husband and Wife Secretly Sentenced by the Chinese Regime
Practitioner Couple Mr. Ma Xunde and Ms. Zheng Fengying Arrested
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