(Minghui.org) A retired nurse is seeking justice after the authorities ordered her to return the retirement fund she had received while serving a prison term for her faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Ms. Xiong Meiying

Ms. Xiong Meiying, a 73-year-old Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province resident, was arrested on September 24, 2016, for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong. She was sentenced to 3.5 years in Jiangxi Women’s Prison on June 27, 2017.

In October 2019, while she was still serving time, the Shengmi Town Health Center she retired from stopped issuing her pension payments. 

When Ms. Xiong was released in March 2020 with poor vision from the torture in custody, her house had collapsed and valuable items were stolen. She was even more devastated to find that her pension had been suspended.

The local Honggutan District Social Security Bureau told Ms. Xiong that after a recent pension reform, her workplace failed to make contributions to her pension account, which disqualified her from receiving any pension in the future. 

On August 20, 2021, two staff members from the social security bureau further demanded that Ms. Xiong return the 131,946.14 yuan she had received between September 2016 and October 2019, citing a policy that bars retirees from receiving retirement benefits while serving time. They threatened to take legal action against her if she didn’t turn in the money in time.

To seek justice, Ms. Xiong filed an administrative motion to reconsider her case with the Honggutan District government in August 2021. She said that she began to work in 1965 and retired in December 1998. Prior to her latest prison term, she had received pension benefits for over 20 years. She said pension benefits are the legal assets of retirees, and the suspension of pensions from those who have been imprisoned is unconstitutional and an illegal action. She demanded the social security bureau withdraw the notice for her to return the funds.

The Honggutan District government responded to her in mid-September that they would make a decision about her case by the statutory deadline.

Perpetrators’ contact information:
Liu Hongxia (刘红霞), director of Honggutan District Human Resource and Social Security Bureau: +86-791-83872720Zhu Dong (朱东), director of Nanchang City Human Resource and Social Security Bureau: +86-791-83884276

(More perpetrators’ contact information is available in the original Chinese article.)

Related reports:

Ms. Xiong Meiying Persecuted in Jiangxi Province Women’s Prison

Retired Nurse Placed on Trial for Her Faith