2015-08-05
Cross still in place on the Jinjia’er church in Huzhou, Zhejiang Province, July 27, 2015.
Photo courtesy of a church member.
Authorities in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang have detained seven Christians on suspicion of crimes including “embezzlement” and public order offenses after they tried to prevent government-hired workers from demolishing a cross on their church.
They include Protestant pastors and married couple Bao Guohua and Xing Wenxiang of the Holy Love Christian church in Zhejiang’s Jinhua city.
Local police tweeted that they had found jewelry and cash in the couple’s home, commenting that the apparently honest preachers led “greedy lives.”
And the local Jinhua Daily newspaper reported that the couple were accused of misusing donations made to the church by the congregation, and had had their license to work as pastors revoked.
China is home to an estimated 60 million Protestant Christians, some 23 million of whom are members of the government-backed Three-Self Patriotic Movement, as required by the ruling Chinese Communist Party.
An official who answered the phone at the Three-Self Patriotic Movement offices on Wednesday confirmed the couple’s detention.
“I don’t know anything about whether their licenses have been revoked,” the official said. “But if they’re already behind bars, why would they not revoke them?”
The official said the organization is unlikely to pursue the matter, now that a legal process is under way.
“That’s not the most important issue here,” the official said.
Asked how they could be so sure the couple are guilty when they have yet to stand trial, the official replied: “It’s been in the newspapers already. Why do you still not believe it?”
Others also held
Some 16 pastors and church members were also detained in and around Wenzhou city in Zhejiang during confrontations with the authorities over the cross removal program last week, church members told RFA.
The remainder have since been released, a defense lawyer for some of the detainees said on Wednesday.
“They detained more than a dozen people, and some of them have now been released unconditionally,” lawyer Chen Jiangang said. “But there are still at least eight people under criminal detention.”
“The police haven’t informed me of anything, and they won’t allow us to visit them,” he said.
Only Bao and Xing have been allowed meetings with lawyer Liu Weiguo, while police have threatened the families of the remaining detainees with retaliation should they hire lawyers to defend their loved ones.
They were forbidden to discuss the details of the case against them, fellow attorney Zheng Xiang said.
“There was no communication on the details of the case,” Zheng said. “There were [staff members] present on both sides of the glass the whole time.”
