Inner Mongolia Court Dismisses House Church Leader’s Lawsuit After Ruling that Police, Local Government Acted Illegally

China Aid Association
(Ulanqab, Inner Mongolia—June 1, 2012) A court has ruled that local police and religious affairs officials had acted illegally in banning a house church student fellowship group but then dismissed the administrative lawsuit brought against them by the student group leader, whom the police had put under administrative detention for 15 days.

The ruling by the court of the first instance on May 15 overturned the ban on the group, but in dismissing the lawsuit brought by Liang Guangzhong, the plaintiff in effect enjoyed no legal protection of his rights which had been violated last September by the Ulanqab police and the Bureau of Minority and Religious Affairs of Ulanqab’s Jining district when they moved against the Mengfu (Blessed) Fellowship, a house church gathering for students.

The authorities put Liang into administrative detention for 15 days for “illegal evangelism” and confiscated 2110 yuan (US$331) from the offering collection box, and an Acer notebook computer, a projector, a camera, a stereo system, and 17 videotapes. See our earlier report at: https://chinaaid.org/2011/10/authorities-ban-christian-student.html

Liu Peifu, from the well-known Beijing Gongxin Law Firm, defended Liang before the Jining District Court at the 9 a.m. hearing on April 27. See our earlier report at: https://chinaaid.org/2012/05/court-hears-lawsuit-against-police.html

The ruling by the court of the first instance is as follows:
I.    The Sept. 15, 2011 order by the Ulanqab Jining District Bureau of Minority and Religious Affairs “On the Decision to Punish Liang Guangzhong for His Actions in Establishing the Illegal Religious Group ‘Blessed Fellowship’,” as a concrete administrative act to administer punishment as part of its management of religious affairs, was in violation of legal procedures and is hereby rescinded.
II.    The Ulanqab Jining District Bureau of Minority and Religious Affairs is hereby ordered to enact new concrete administrative action within five working days after this ruling goes into effect.
III.    Dismiss the plaintiff’s request in his lawsuit to establish the illegality of the order “On the Decision to Punish Liang Guangzhong for His Actions in Establishing the Illegal Religious Group ‘Blessed Fellowship’” and the request to order the return of the plaintiff’s belongings confiscated by the defendant.

Below are scans of the ruling (click on image to enlarge):

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