(Minghui.org) A resident of Shangzhi City, Heilongjiang Province was released on March 1, 2019 after serving three years for practicing Falun Gong, an ancient spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

The local social security bureau suspended his pension during the three years, citing a notice that Falun Gong practitioners imprisoned for their faith are barred from receiving their pension payments during their terms.

Mr. Chen Chunsheng, 59 and a former employee of the local forestry bureau, was arrested on March 1, 2016 after being reported for passing out information about Falun Gong. The police took turns interrogating him for 24 hours without allowing him any sleep. He was traumatized both mentally and physically from the abuse and intimidation.

Mr. Chen was later sentenced to three years by Xinqing Forestry Bureau Court. He was transferred from Tangwanghe Detention Center to Hulan Prison on August 19, 2016.

Mr. Chen was forced to work more than ten hours each day without pay. The guards often beat and verbally abused him. He shared a single bed with five other detainees – it was so crowded that he often had trouble breathing. He also contracted scabies due to the filthy environment in the prison.

The guards sometimes didn't allow him to use the restroom and forced him to stand for hours in the evening, in order to force him to give up Falun Gong.

In addition to his prison term, he was held at local brainwashing centers and a detention center for three months in 2001 after the police found two banners at his home that said “Falun Dafa is good.”