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| Ruan Haonan (second from left) and Li Wanhua (second from right), stand in front of a police station. (Photo: ChinaAid) |
ChinaAid
(Jiangmen, Guangdong—Nov. 16, 2017) A pastor spent four hours under interrogation at a police station after public security officials raided his home in China’s southern Guangdong province on Thursday.
Authorities invaded Pastor Li Wanhua’s home on Nov. 9 and removed Christian materials such as the Bible and a large bag of poetry. They asked Li whether or not he had any Christian contacts overseas or if he had attended any theological trainings abroad, which he denied, saying they had not allowed him to leave China. In addition, they summoned him to their office and interrogated him for nearly four hours.
That night, Li informed a ChinaAid reporter that they ordered him to stop hold church services at Fengle Church, where he preaches. Otherwise, the church will be banned, and he will be arrested.
“At the very beginning,” Li said, “they were fierce and did not disclose which police station they came, their names were not clearly stated, and they did not show their identification cards. When they wrote the statement, they did not let me change it. I disagreed and said that when they interrogate me, they should turn on the recorder to monitor the situation according to the law. I said, ‘You are not following the law like this.’ Afterwards, they turned on the law enforcing recorder, and we wrote the interrogation transcript.”
In the past, local officials pressured the church to join the state-run Three-Self Church multiple times, but its attendees refused.
On June 14, the Heshan Municipal Public Security Bureau detained Li, just two days after it took one of the church members, Ruan Haonan, into custody. They both were charged with “organizing and utilizing cult organizations and superstition to undermine law enforcement.” As their lawyers worked for their freedom, their case gained international attention, causing the Chinese government to grant them a one-year bail term on July 13. At the time, public security agents confiscated 12 Bibles, 48 psalms, and more than 1,000 leaflets belonging to the church. Even though he has been released, Li still has to report to the police station every week.
ChinaAid exposes abuses, such as those suffered by Li and Ruan, in order to stand in solidarity with persecuted Christians and promote religious freedom, human rights, and rule of law.
ChinaAid Media Team
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