It has been another year of turbulence for the church in China. Reports from the China Aid Association, an advocacy organization for the persecuted faithful in China, describe arrests, imprisonments, beatings, and—thankfully—some releases of Christians and other dissidents from prison. But the advocacy organization, based in Midland, Texas, and founded by Chinese Christian/former prisoner Bob Fu, also has news about a number of Chinese Christians bravely holding the Chinese government accountable for its unjust treatment of religious believers and for its violation of its own laws.
Suing the People’s Republic
On April 18, 2007, China Aid reported that three Chinese Christians had filed lawsuits against the Chinese government for the abusive treatment they received during detainment. One lawsuit was filed by Pastor Dong Quanyu, the Vice President of the Chinese House Church Alliance, and his wife, Li Huage, of Henan. The other came from Sister Zhi Ruiping, a house church leader from Inner Mongolia. All three arrests had previously been reported by China Aid.
 Former prisoners China Aid founder Bob Fu and house church pastor Peter Xu demonstrate how Christian prisoners are tortured. |
The Chinese government’s Public Security Bureau raided the home of Pastor Dong on March 6, 2007. At the time, the couple was meeting for Bible study with 33 other Chinese house church leaders and three South Korean pastors. Computers, cameras, cell phones, dozens of boxes of Bibles, and 400 yuan in cash were confiscated by the police. Dong and the other pastors were arrested. And although the others were released the next day, Dong was charged for an “illegal gathering” and was detained for ten days before being released on March 16. China Aid credits international pressure for all of the releases.
Not long after her husband’s release, Li Huage, was also detained for ten days. She was charged with “disturbing public order” because she had invited the other pastors to the Bible study. China Aid revealed that Li was arrested while she was actually at the police department, requesting the return of the computers, cell phones, and other confiscated property. She was released on March 29, 2007. According to China Aid, the confiscated property has so far not been returned.
China Aid’s news story of April 18, 2007, reports that Pastor Dong and wife, Li, filed a lawsuit in the People’s Court of Nanyang City based on the authorities’ violation of several articles of the “Law of Administrative Penalty of the People’s Republic of China.” In the initial raid on March 6, the police provided no identification, violating Article 37 of the aforementioned law. The confiscation of the couple’s property presents a violation of Article 89 of the same law.
Dong and Li are “demanding that the Wancheng Branch of Nanyang Municipal Public Security Bureau cancel all its illegal specific acts, return the confiscated properties, and compensate for the applicants’ properties illegally detained, including 400 yuan of detention fees,” says China Aid. The court has not yet decided whether to take up the case of these Henan house church leaders.
Christians in Inner Mongolia Insist on a Clear Definition of “Relatives and Friends”
Elsewhere in China, house church leader Sister Zhi Ruiping is also litigating. She, along with other Christians, was arrested by the Chinese authorities on December 29, 2006, and held for 15 days on charges that she organized an illegal Christmas gathering.
According to China Aid, about 120 Christians from Inner Mongolia were celebrating Christmas at the Manjiangchunfeng Hotel in Naoer Town, Duolon County, on December 29, 2006. At about 11:00 a.m. the chief of the local Religious Affairs Administrative Bureau (RAAB), Ma Ruidong, arrived and accused them of having an illegal gathering, since they were not a registered church and the celebration had not been approved by the RAAB.
One of the organizers of the celebration, Liu Guanghua, asked Ma which law he was citing, but the official could not answer. Ma took Liu and Zhi Ruiping to the RAAB station, where Zhi Ruiping defended the gathering by quoting laws and regulations to prove that the “traditional family church” did not need to register, said China Aid. Ma conceded that “family church” meant the husband, wife, and their relatives and friends, but in this context he insisted that “relatives and friends” referred only to family members. The RAAB official said that anyone other than family members could not attend such gatherings.
The China Aid report of January 26, 2007, says that while Liu and Zhi were in the local RAAB station, police from the County Public Security Bureau (PSB), Criminal Police Squad, and two others from a nearby police station tried to break up the Christmas party. The Christians refused to leave, so the police dispelled them by force and arrested eight of them, including Zhi’s husband and sister. Zhi’s husband was beaten by the police, who also confiscated a television, electronic piano, saxophone, furniture, and tithes box without issuing a list of held items. Most of the Christians were released the same day, but organizers Liu, Zhi, and Zhi’s sister were taken to Duolun Detention Center, where they were held for 15 days, according to China Aid.
Zhi filed her case in the People’s Court of Duolun County on April 12, 2007. She argued that the punishment issued against her and the others violated the basic principles of national policy for religious affairs since the Christmas celebration was in the category of religious affairs that did not require registration. China Aid reports that she is demanding that the court repeal the penalty decision and rule that the PSB pay one yuan to her in the form of state compensation, and that the bureau also pay the litigation expenses for the case. The court has accepted her case and is to hear it in the near future.
A new day has dawned in China, when Christians, who for year after year have been unlawfully arrested and incarcerated, now are responding more assertively—increasingly using legal means to seek justice from unjust legal authorities. Thanks to legal and financial support from the China Aid Association, more Chinese Christians are courageously confronting their abusive government and having their day in court.
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