 |
| The detention notice received by the family of one of the detainees is translated below. (Photo courtesy of the Guo family.) |
China Aid Association
The church was demolished as part of a campaign, “Three Rectifications and One Demolition,” which authorities claim targets only illegal structures. However, based on internal government documents, the campaign seems to focus heavily on the demolition and suppression of religious gathering places (see https://chinaaid.org/2014/04/exclusive-china-aid-receives-internal.html, https://chinaaid.org/2014/04/government-notice-lists-privately.html and https://chinaaid.org/2014/05/zhejiang-government-document-reveals.html).
Church leaders and the local government had previously signed an agreement on April 7 to leave the “model project,” as authorities had previously called the church building, intact and demolish two floors of an accessory building. The agreement came after thousands of Christians traveled to the church to guard it from demolition (see (https://chinaaid.org/2014/04/zhejiang-tspm-church-faces-forced.html, https://chinaaid.org/2014/04/one-tspm-church-in-zhejiang-finds.html and https://chinaaid.org/2014/04/sanjiang-church-in-zhejiang-facing.html).
The list of detained individuals comes days after China Aid published a list of 64 Zhejiang Churches to have been targeted during the demolition campaign since the beginning of the year (https://chinaaid.org/2014/05/china-aid-receives-compilation-of-64.html).
The following is a complete list of detentions and summons reported to China Aid. The individuals’ first names have been withheld for their personal safety: Seven Sanjiang Church staff, along with an elder, Guo, a preacher, Wang, and a deacon, Chen, were detained on April 22 by Yongjia County officials in Wenzhou. Three of the church members were named Chen, Shan and Ji.
• Zhou, who works at a church in the Oubei District of Yongjia County was detained in April. Due to poor health, he is said to be detained in a hospital in Yongjia County.
• Brother Zhou from Tengqiao township in the Lucheng District of Wenzhou was held for seven weeks following his detention in early April.
• Pastor Wu, from a church in Lucheng District, was summoned by police on April 22. Wu’s phone was confiscated for one week’s time.
• Pastor Lin, also from a church in Lucheng, was summoned by police on April 22; however, Lin didn’t go to the police station because he was out of town.
• Pastor Fu, from Pingyang County, Wenzhou, was summoned by police on April 23 and April 24. It was also reported that police broke into the church one night to ask him to come to the police station.
• Sister Chen from a church in Pingyang County was summoned by police on April 23.
• Also on April 23, Brother Zhao, from Baixiang Church in Yueqing County, Wenzhou, was summoned by police and subsequently detained for one week for “spreading rumors online.”
• Zhou, an elder from a church in Tengiao township, Lucheng District, was summoned by police on April 23.
Yan, a member of the staff at a church in Pingyang County, was summoned on April 24.
• On April 24, Zhao, an elder from Oubei District of Yongjia County, was taken into custody and is still being detained.
• Chen, a staffer at a church in Tengqiao township, was summoned by police on April 25 while on his way to Sanjiang Church.
• Pastor Li, from a Lucheng District church, was detained for a week for “disrupting public order” after being taken into custody from Sanjiang Church on April 25, the day believers claim police began clearing people from the church (https://chinaaid.org/2014/05/zhejiang-authorities-began-clearing.html). Li was detained with two women who were present at Sanjiang Church.
• A man named Zhao was detained on April 25; at this time, his hometown in unknown.
• Pastor Huang, from a Pingyang County church, and his wife were summoned by police on April 25.
• Mr. Wang, from Rui’an City, was detained in Sanjiang Church on April 27.
• Xu, a man from Tengqiao, was summoned from Sanjiang Church by police on April 27.
• Also on April 27, Sister Li, from Longwan District, Wenzou, was taken into custody near Sanjiang Church and was detained for eight days.
• On April 28, the day Sanjiang Church was demolished, Lin, a church staff member from Pingyang County, was detained for taking photos of the demolition. Other men were detained with Lin (https://chinaaid.org/2014/04/zhejiang-christians-fear-sanjiang.html).
• Shang, a man from Baixiang Church in Yueqing County, was also detained on April 28 for taking photos of the demolitions. He was held for one week.
• Nine Christians from Rui’an were detained on April 28 for taking pictures of the demolition: three men are surnamed Chen, two women are women with the last name Wu, along with Sister Zhou, Sister Yu, Sister Li and Brother Cai.
Following is the translation of a detention notice received by Elder Guo of Sanjiang Church:
Yongjia County Public Security Bureau
Family of Guo:
According to Article 80 of the “Criminal Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China,” we have detained Guo at 5 p.m., April 22, 2014, who is suspected of illegal occupation of farmland. He is being held at Yongjia County Detention Center.
China Aid Contacts