(Guiyang, Guizhou Province—May 28, 2021) On May 23, local police arbitrarily detained Pastor Yang Hua of the Living Stone Church in Guiyang City, Guizhou Province. During his detention at a local police station, a government official interrogated and beat Pastor Yang so violently that afterward, emergency medical service [EMS] personnel transported him by ambulance to the nearest emergency room. Currently, though in stable condition, Pastor Yang remains hospitalized for further observation.
Reliable sources verifiably identified the “plain-clothes” perpetrator, as Yunyan District’s Secretary of the Central Politics and Legal Affairs Commission. According to one insider’s disclosure, the secretary could not find any evidence that Pastor Yang Hua committed any illegal acts, nevertheless, this Party official lost control of his emotions. When he knocked Pastor Yang down, he yelled, “Believe it or not, I can beat you to death.”
“Whatever you want to do is fine,” Pastor Yang said as he stood up. “I will not fight back.
The secretary immediately began to choke Pastor Yang by the neck and then forcefully slapped him. When he finished beating Pastor Yang, the secretary brazenly stormed from the scene.
Pastor Yang had initially planned to visit some of his Christian friends in Qingdao on May 24. As several local authorities tried to prevent him from carrying through his travel plans, they transported Pastor Yang to Zhongshan East Road Police Station under Yunyan District, Guiyang City’s Public Security Bureau, for investigation.
When the secretary attacked me, he slapped my left cheek with such force that I could hardly hear any sounds afterward. He then started cursing and said that it is now the world of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), that—the CCP rules all.
After EMS personnel transported Pastor Yang by ambulance to Guizhou Provincial Emergency Hospital, he logged a complaint with the Yunyan District’s Police Supervision Department.
The attack not only left scars on Pastor Yang’s ear and neck areas, but he also experiences tinnitus and force-induced, physical complications. During the next few days, doctors will continue to observe and treat him.
In 2015, after CCP authorities accused Living Stone Church [where Yang Hua (formerly Li Guozhi), serves as pastor] of not being legally registered, they shut it down. Later, local authorities forcibly auctioned off the rest of the church’s properties. In another effort to suppress the church, local officials used the vague, fabricated charge of “divulging State secrets” to sentence Pastor Yang to two and a half years in prison. Authorities released him in June 2019. Due to health concerns after serving his complete sentence, Pastor Yang urgently needed medical care.
Until [… May 23] Pastor Yang remained under officials’ close monitoring. He had plans to head to Qingdao but police informed him that he was not allowed to leave Guiyang before July 1.
In May 2018, CCP authorities sentenced Su Tianfu, another pastor of Pastor Yang’s church, to one year in prison, with a two-year suspended sentence. Officials then placed him under house arrest for six months.
~ Gao Zhensai, ChinaAid Special Correspondent
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