(Minghui.org) An 83-year-old resident of Jidong County, Heilongjiang Province has had his pension suspended since January 2020, merely months after he served two years for his faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
The Jidong County Human Resources and Social Security Bureau (HRSSB) suspended Mr. Ren Shouzhi’s pension in an attempt to make him pay back the retirement benefits issued during his two-year prison term (May 2017 – May 2019), totaling 149,796.48 yuan (6,241.52 yuan per month * 24 months). As he refused to comply, the HRSSB issued a notice in September 2021, ordering him to pay back a lower amount, 137,313,44 yuan.
Mr. Ren still refused to pay, as his pension was his lawfully earned assets. The HRSSB then filed a lawsuit against him in February 2023 and named his son as a co-defendant. His son settled with the HRSSB without his knowledge, and part of the agreement was to garnish money from his wife’s pension account to pay back his “pension debt.”
Mr. Ren filed a counter suit against the HRSSB, but it was dismissed. He was told that the case was concluded and that he could only file a motion to reconsider his case. He did, but the local court refused to register his motion and instead froze his wife’s pension account in August 2023.
Even by the HRSSB’s own calculation, the suspended pension benefits from January 2020 to July 2023, 268,385.36 yuan (=43 months * 6,241.52 yuan per month without considering cost-of-living adjustments to pension), should have been more than enough to pay back the 149,796.48 yuan they initially attempted to claw back from Mr. Ren. But they still pressured the court to freeze his wife’s pension account.
Mr. Ren suspects that there is only one explanation, that is, the HRSSB and the court are continuing their financial persecution of him simply because of his firm faith in Falun Gong.
Details of Mr. Ren’s Pension Suspension
Mr. Ren, who retired from the Distance Learning Department at Jidong County Adult Technical School, was released from prison in May 2019, only to have his pension suspended in January 2020 by the HRSSB. He made numerous requests to have his pension reinstated, but the HRSSB, the Jidong County Appeals Bureau, and the Jidong County Political and Legal Affairs Committee all ignored him.
In April 2021, the Jidong County Government held a meeting attended by the HRSSB, the finance bureau, the education bureau, the civil affairs bureau, the judicial bureau, the Discipline Inspection and Supervision Committee, and the Organization Department of the County Party Committee.
It was determined at the meeting that the HRSSB was reasonable in suspending Mr. Ren’s pension based on “Policy 69” issued by its supervising agency at the central government level. The policy barred retirees from receiving retirement benefits during their prison terms, but allowed them to receive some subsidies after serving time. The meeting attendees thus also decided to issue Mr. Ren a monthly subsidy of 604 yuan.
In September 2021, the HRSSB issued a decision to claw back the 137,313,44 yuan of pension payments issued to Mr. Ren between March 2018 and December 2019, which covered part of his two-year sentence (May 2017 – May 2019) and the seven months after he was released from prison. It’s unclear why the 22-month duration did not cover his entire prison term when the agency was trying to implement the aforementioned policy. They ordered him to return the money in ten days.
Mr. Ren refused to comply as his pension was his lawfully earned assets, and no law in China deprives retirees of their retirement benefits.
The HRSSB filed a civil lawsuit against Mr. Ren with the Jidong County Court on February 10, 2023. Mr. Ren’s son was named a co-defendant, as the agency alleged that the young man had used up his father’s pension funds. No evidence was provided to support that allegation.
Mr. Ren was notified to appear in court on February 16, 2023 but the hearing was canceled at the last minute. He then heard no updates. He checked the court’s website on March 14 and saw that his case status was listed as “concluded.” He called the court and learned that his son had settled with the HRSSB without his knowledge. The HRSSB agreed to remove Mr. Ren’s son as a co-defendant on the condition that the court garnish money from the pension account of Mr. Ren’s wife, Ms. Li Jinhui. The HRSSB went after Ms. Li on the grounds that she was the one who managed Mr. Ren’s pension account during his imprisonment. Mediator Li Mingshan’s name was on the meditation paper.
Mr. Ren then filed a counter suit against the HRSSB for suspending his pension and violating the Constitution, the Labor Law, the Legislation Law, and the Social Insurance Law. The Jidong County Court declined to register his suit and told him that the case had been concluded and reported to the Provincial High Court. As such, his only legal option was to file a motion to reconsider his case.
Mr. Ren filed his motion with the Jidong County Court on June 10, 2023. He named mediator Li as the defendant. He requested that the court nullify Li’s meditation result, dismiss the HRSSB’s civil suit against him [this seems unnecessary as the suit was automatically dismissed when his son settled with the plaintiff], and order the HRSSB to reinstate his pension and pay back the suspended benefits from January 2020 to June 2023, totaling 262,143.84 yuan (= 42 months * 6241.52 yuan per month).
The Jidong County Court, however, refused to register his motion.
A judge surnamed Jin from the Jidong County Court’s Judgment Enforcement Division summoned Mr. Ren to the court on June 28, 2023 and notified him that the court would begin garnishing money from his wife’s pension account.
Mr. Ren soon filed a request to stop the garnishment. He emphasized that he should never have been jailed for his faith in the first place, much less face pension suspension and see his wife implicated as well. He also submitted his wife’s medical records and medical bills to show how she had been struggling to pay for medical treatments for her myriad of health problems, including high blood pressure, multiple cerebral infarcts, liver damage, coronary atherosclerosis, heart disease, and severe bone hyperplasia in the knee joints.
The court ignored Mr. Ren and froze his wife's pension account in August 2023. He called judge Jin and the latter said that the court had decided to give his wife a one-time payment of 7,200 yuan as a subsidy, and the rest of her pension account would be frozen to pay back his “pension debt.” His wife only had 1,500 yuan of monthly retirement benefits, which meant she only received 40% (7,200 yuan) of her annual amount (18,000 yuan), with the remaining 60% garnished by the court.
Mr. Ren argued that 7,200 yuan was barely enough to make ends meet, much less seek medical care, including an expensive knee replacement surgery that his wife needed. He asked to meet with Jin, but the latter used various excuses to turn him down.
Mr. Ren then called Jin’s supervisor Liu Jing and requested a meeting. Liu said, “Your wife’s pension account is frozen! So what! Let the person handling the case [referring to Jin] report to me.”
Jin later answered Mr. Ren’s call and said the HRSSB was pressuring him to freeze Mr. Ren’s wife’s pension account. It was clear that he was trying to shift blame to the HRSSB, which claimed that the court was simply implementing its ruling.
Related reports:
81-year-old Retired Professor's Pension Suspended Eight Months After Serving Two Years for His Faith
Educator Imprisoned for Two Years Following Eighth Arrest for His Belief
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