Pastor prevented from teaching on false orders

Zhang Chongzhu waves to friends on
May 9, 2016, after the came to see him
released. (Photo: ChinaAid)

ChinaAid


(Wenzhou, Zhejiang—April 23, 2018) A pastor in China’s coastal Zhejiang province was ordered not to preach on April 9, but when he called authorities to ask why, he was told the order never happened.

Zhang Chongzhu, who was previously a pastor with an official Three-Self Church in the city of Wenzhou, was told that his church’s leader had received a phone call from the local religious affairs bureau in which officials forbade Zhang from preaching after he was invited to speak at a local church. However, after calling the bureau, none of the officials would admit to giving the order. According to the church leader, the order came from a bureau section chief, but both the director and deputy director of the bureau denied the order, too.

When questioned, the director and deputy director said that even though Zhang’s license is no longer valid, it is illegal to forbid him from preaching in Zhejiang if a church invites him.

The city of Wenzhou is also known as “China’s Jerusalem” because of its high Christian population. Beginning in 2012, Wenzhou was the epicenter of a province-wide crackdown on churches and church members, including a “beautification campaign,” which authorized authorities to demolish crosses on church buildings.

Zhang was previously detained on Sept. 8, 2015, as part of this crackdown. He was held for months in a “black jail,” a secretive detention location where prisoners have no contact with the outside world. He was finally accused on Feb. 9, 2016, of “stealing, spying, buying, or illegally providing state secrets or intelligence to entities outside China.” He was eventually released on May 9, 2016.

Before he was arrested, he was scheduled to meet with the U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Religious Freedom at the time, David Saperstein, with renowned human rights lawyer Zhang Kai, who represented churches targeted during the crackdown. Zhang Kai was also arrested on similar espionage charges around the same time.

Charges which involve selling state secrets are often used in China for cover-ups because, citing security concerns, authorities are not required to give any information about where the accused is held or their condition. Legal representation and family members are also barred from visiting detainees under these charges.

After his incarceration, Zhang Chongzhu’s pastoral license was suspended, and he no longer has a position at any official church. Additionally, his case is still considered in-progress, and due to the close relation of his case to that of Zhang Kai, he was denied a passport and forbidden from leaving the country.

Zhang Kai was released from prison on March 23, 2016, after a televised confession and has lived under house arrest in Inner Mongolia ever since.

ChinaAid reports on members of the persecuted church, such as Pastor Zhang Chongzhu, in order to expose abuses and promote religious freedom, human rights, and rule of law in China.


ChinaAid Media Team
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Pastor prevented from teaching on false orders

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