Church torn apart by abuse pens letter describing persecution

June 20, 2017 by admin

(Guiyang, Guizhou—June 9, 2017) Splintered into small congregations meeting secretively in the homes of fellow church attendees, the members of a house church in China’s southern Guizhou province penned a letter describing how government persecution obliterated their finances, imprisoned and tortured their leaders, and fractured their thriving church body.

Beginning with the church’s founding, the members of Huoshi Church traced its entire history with the government, insisting that the Communist Party abused them despite their attempts to comply with the law, which included reporting on all of their activities to the local religious affairs and public security bureaus. As the church quickly swelled into the largest house church in Guizhou’s capital, Guiyang, officials told the church it must join the China’s state-run Three-Self Church, which is subject to government censorship, or they would be banned. The members refused.

According to the letter, “From then on, the hard days of Huoshi Church in Guiyang began. The government officials often interrupted the regular gatherings, sometimes cutting off the building’s power supply. The police frequently intruded and demanded [the Christians show] ID cards. Many believers were pressured both by their companies and family members and could not attend the regular meetings. The neighborhood committee dispatched workers to persuade the church members to quit. The government workers even spread the rumor among the family members of the believers that Huoshi Church was an anti-government cult.”

These escalating tensions culminated in the arrest of several key church members and leaders. As church accountant Zhang Xiuhong was leaving the church on July 28, 2015, authorities dragged her away and charged her with illegal business operations. Officially, the government said she withdrew church funds at a beauty shop and embezzled 5 million yuan ($725,000 USD), but Zhang suspects they falsely charged her on account of her religious beliefs. The Nanming District Court tried and convicted Zhang on Feb. 10, 2017 and gave her a five-year prison sentence, which she appealed a week later.

On Dec. 9, 2015, government personnel interrupted a prayer session and took Pastor Yang Hua into custody for interfering with their attempts to confiscate a hard drive. The next day, they accused him of “the crime of obstructing justice” and “gathering a crowd to disturb public order” and handed him two consecutive, five-day administrative detention sentences. However, on Dec. 10, 2015—his scheduled release date—he received a third charge, “illegally possessing state secrets,” and was forced into an unlicensed vehicle and transported to another facility for criminal detention.

For more than a month, his wife and lawyers were barred from meeting with him. When his charge changed a third time to “divulging state secrets,” a local court approved his arrest on Jan. 22, 2016. He was tried and wrongfully convicted after a year in prison on Dec. 26, 2016, and jailed for two-and-a-half years.

While in prison, he has experienced torture and contracted severe vasculitis, which the detention center’s doctors inadequately treated.

In addition, authorities also attacked the church’s finances, freezing their bank accounts and then levying a hefty fine of more than 7 million yuan ($1,030,000 USD) against them.

A translation of the letter is forthcoming.

ChinaAid exposes abuses such as those suffered by Huoshi Church and its members in order to promote religious freedom, human rights, and rule of law.