Many retirees in communist China have had their pensions suspended for upholding their faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual practice based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. The CCP has no legal basis to deprive any citizen of their pensions, aiming to eradicate the group, a former lawyer commented. In 2020, at least 161 practitioners were forced to pay back the pension they received during their time imprisoned for their belief, based on incomplete data collected by Minghui.org, a U.S.-based website dedicated to recording the persecution of Falun Gong in China. The deprivation of any forms of pension is illegal, Lai Jianping, a political expert from China University of Political Science and Law, said on March 28. “The deprivation of money bankrupts people, leaving them with nothing to rely on, and even food- or other necessities- insecure. They are driving people to a dead-end,” the former Chinese trial …