(Minghui.org) Several Falun Gong practitioners in Fujin City, Heilongjiang Province were denied retirement benefits because of not renouncing their faith.

Ms. Zhao Yaxian, 86 and a retired manager of the Fujin City Water Bureau, went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong on January 25, 2000. She was arrested and given two years of forced labor. After she was released in January 2002, she was shocked to learn that her pension, which amounted to about 5,000 yuan per month, had been stopped soon after her arrest. She relied on her parents and siblings to get by. In 2005, she moved in with her daughter in a different city.

Years of having to rely on others for financial support caused tremendous mental pressure for Ms. Zhao. She later realized that the illegal suspension of her pension was in fact a deprivation of her rights. She returned to Fujin in 2011 to seek the reinstatement of her pension. She approached her former employer, the Fujin City Water Bureau, the Fujin City Human Resources Bureau, the Supervision Bureau, the Discipline Inspection Commission, and the Appeals Office. They gave her the runaround, and no one addressed her concerns. The authorities told her children that as long as she refuses to admit her fault [in practicing Falun Gong], there is no way for them to reinstate her pension.

Mr. Tian Haitao, 63, used to work as an IT technician at Fujin City Agricultural Bank. He worked very hard and was recognized as a provincial level and city-level star employee for several years in a row. After the Chinese communist regime ordered the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, the bank worked with the local 610 Office to persecute him. Since 2000, he hasn’t been allowed to report to work nor issued any pay. No formal termination notice was ever issued.

When Mr. Tian reached retirement age in May 2023, he contacted the bank to submit his retirement application, but the bank refused to accept it. Zhang Ruifeng, the current bank president, said to him, “You were already fired in 2000 because you were absent from work. You can file a complaint against us at the disciplinary committee.”

Mr. Tian went to the bank again on July 22, 2024, but was told to come back when he reaches 70. A residential worker called Mr. Tian’s relative in late 2024 and said the police instructed her to find out about his whereabouts. Meanwhile, Mr. Tian’s passport application was denied.

Three other practitioners in Fujin, including Mr. Gao Liansheng, Mr. Sun Chengbo, and Mr. Wang Yufeng, have also suffered financial persecution since 2000 and they were denied pension payments after reaching retirement age.