The Water and Environmental Research Institute of the Chinese Geological Academy Persecutes Retired Researcher for Seven Years

The Water and Environmental Division of the Chinese Geological Academy, whose headquarters is located in Zhengding County, Hebei Province, has been harassing and threatening retired researcher Ms. Liu Xiaoying and her family members while withholding her retirement pension for seven years.

Ms. Liu Xiaoying, 64, who retired in 2001, began practising Falun Gong in 1998. She followed the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance to be a good person. In April 2002, the local police accused her of going on the web to view banned sites and went to her home to arrest her. She was not at home at the time, but she has been forced to stay away from her home since then.

Subsequently, the Institute's Communist Party secretary, Yan Changqing, and director, Huang Zhixing, made the decision to stop her pension beginning in May 2002 and declared that they would confiscate her house, stop all benefits, and withhold her husband's pension if she did not come back. They also helped the local police go to other provinces to look for her.

At the time, only Ms. Liu's daughter and her one-year-old baby were living at the house. Her daughter had lost her job and was just divorced. The division sent the manager of the Organization Department, Zhou Gengwang, frequently went to her house to threaten her daughter, trying to get her to reveal the whereabouts of Ms. Liu. They also followed and monitored her and limited her freedom.

Beginning in October 2002, Zhou Gengwang went to the house to harass her daughter almost every day. At the end of October, director Huang Zhixing went in person and threatened her, saying, "If you still don't tell us your mother's whereabouts, next time you will be talking with the police officers."

When all of these tactics failed, managers of the Water and Environment Division colluded with the local police station to ransack Ms. Liu's house and arrest her daughter, torturing and interrogating her for seven days. As a result, her legs lost all sensation and her life was in danger. Meanwhile, no one was taking care of her baby. In October 2002, the division announced in an all-staff meeting that Ms. Liu's pension had been terminated and sent Zhang Zhizong to inform her daughter.

In 2005, Party secretary Yan Changqing, who was behind all of this, died of liver cancer. In 2006, division director Huang Zhixing retired, and deputy director Shi Jiansheng was promoted to the position of director and continued to persecute Ms. Liu.

In 2008, Ms. Liu's daughter hired a lawyer to talk with director Shi Jiansheng and ask him for an explanation for the termination of Ms. Liu. Shi fiercely replied, "Liu Xiaoying talked with us on the phone and insisted on practising Falun Gong. Falun Gong is not a legal issue. It is a political issue. We are dealing with it based on documents from the central government and have nothing to be concerned about. Besides, she has been terminated, and we don't consider her one of our employees. If you insist on seeing this documentation, I will call the police first." However, legally, the process of "terminating" someone cannot be applied to retired employees because to be retired means that one is not an employee anymore and therefore cannot be let go.

Water and Environmental Research Institute, Chinese Geological Academy:

Director, Shi Jiansheng (responsible for persecution): 86-311-88021116 (Office), 86-13803379705 (Mobile), 86-311-87707886 (Home), E-mail: [email protected]
Deputy Director, Zhang Fawang: 86-311-88022029, 86-13803379702 (Mobile), E-mail:[email protected], [email protected]

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2009/3/3/196447.html