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| Elder Qin Defu (holding baby) with his family. (Photo: ChinaAid) |
(Chengdu, Sichuan—Nov. 29, 2019) Early Rain Covenant Church Elder Qin Defu was sentenced to four years in prison today.
This is in contradiction to a promise given to his family, in which authorities guaranteed if Qin accepted a state-appointed attorney, he would be released.
Qin was charged with “illegal business operations.” At his trial on Monday, it was learned the charge was given because of 20,000 Christian books the church used.
Qin’s attorney said the church’s pastor, Wang Yi, admitted in a testimony that he was involved with these books. Wang is also imprisoned. As such, the lawyer speculated Wang would receive no less than a 10-year sentence.
Authorities seized around 100 members of Early Rain Covenant Church during the night of Dec. 9, 2018. Most of them have since been released.
ChinaAid Media Team
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