(Minghui.org) A former radio station chief editor was devastated to find out that his pension had been suspended after serving a three-year term for his faith in Falun Gong. When he filed a complaint against the social security bureau, the judge said to him, “We can be lenient regarding murder or arson, but not for Falun Gong cases.” Facing ongoing harassment after that, Mr. Chen Xingbo has been forced to live away from home.
Mr. Chen, 72, of Xingtai City, Hebei Province, had previously been arrested on November 24, 2019 and sentenced to three years by the Xiangdu District Court on September 10, 2020.
Shortly after Mr. Chen’s conviction, the Xingtai Radio Broadcasting Station removed him from the retirees’ roster and suspended all of his retirement benefits.
On January 26, 2021, about three weeks after Mr. Chen was admitted to the Jidong Prison, the radio station found his wife and demanded that she return the 80,000 yuan in pension payments made to Mr. Chen during his past 15 months of detention. When she refused to comply, the authorities threatened to sell their house or suspend Ms. Sun’s own pension.
After Mr. Chen was released on November 23, 2022, almost blind and with a severe heart condition, he went to the radio station and social security center to seek justice. Chen Jiangqi, the deputy director of the Xingtai Social Insurance Service Center, said to him, “Everything you said is correct. But I still can’t reinstate your pension. What can you do to me? You can go ahead and sue me. If the judge rules that I should reinstate your pension, then I will do it!”
Mr. Chen then filed an administrative lawsuit with the Xingtai Economic Development Zone Court. Judge Zhang Guozheng made things difficult for him in every possible way. He said, “We can be lenient regarding murder or arson, but not for Falun Gong cases. This is a very significant and sensitive issue.” Zhang also threatened Mr. Chen, “You’d better give it up soon. It’s no use for you to file the lawsuit.”
Over a year after Mr. Chen filed the lawsuit, the court refused to accept it, and did not issue a formal response to explain why they wouldn’t accept it. Meanwhile, Mr. Chen was also subjected to constant harassment and intimidation from many organizations, including the court, the social security center, the radio station, the local police, and the petition office. He has been forced to live away from home to avoid the persecution, and his family hasn’t heard from him for months.
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