The wives of three imprisoned leaders from Linfen Covenant House Church in Shanxi province are campaigning for justice for their husbands and for their release. 19 August 2024 marks the second anniversary of the detention of pastors Li Jie and Han Xiaodong, who were detained after police raided a church camp in August 2022. Ten weeks later, police also detained church staff member Wang Qiang. Li Jie’s wife Li Shanshan was detained at the same time as her husband but was released on bail after two weeks.

The three Christian men were charged with “fraud”, but their case has never been brought to trial. The Chinese government increasingly uses fraud as a charge against leaders of unregistered churches, falsely accusing them of defrauding the congregation by taking illegal collections and tithes.

On 30 July 2024 Li Shanshan, Han Xiaodong’s wife Chen Ying and Wang Qiang’s wife Wen Huijuan (pictured, from left) went to the Yaodu District Court in heavy rain to make their fifth attempt in a month to speak with Court President Xie Binghua about their husbands’ long detention without trial. This time their request for a meeting was granted, but the Court President refused to acknowledge the illegality of the extended detention without trial of their husbands and warned the women not to criticise, comment on or interfere with the case on social media.

Meeting with Court President Xie Binghua

To the surprise of the three wives, President Xie received them in a courtroom where he sat in the judge’s position, while they were made to sit about 5 metres away in the public gallery. Due to the distance and President Xie’s raised position they had to tilt their heads up and speak loudly to state their case.

President Xie began, “You’ve come to see me repeatedly, what’s the matter? I know every time you come to court.”

The wives replied, “We are Christians, and Christian offerings are a 2,000-year-old tradition. Offerings cannot be considered fraud. This is clearly persecution of our faith; don’t label us with the crime of fraud. We have opportunities to earn a lot of money; we don’t need to commit fraud. Our husbands are innocent, which is why we’ve come to court multiple times, regardless of weather conditions, to appeal for our husbands. If they are guilty, we accept legal sanctions. But they are innocent, so please release them to reunite with us. The Yaodu District Court’s failure to hold a trial, extended detention, and long-term detention without decision are illegal.”

“I understand your feelings very well and empathise with you,” he responded. “I’m really busy in meetings, on business trips and in training. It’s legal not to meet with family members. If we were to meet with family members for every case, it would be impossible.”

He then warned them not to criticise, comment on or interfere with the case on  social media platform Weibo. They replied, “Our case has been going on for two years. Isn’t it illegal to neither try nor judge and keep delaying?”

President Xie responded, “Go look at the Criminal Procedure Law. We handle cases according to procedures”, to which the wives retorted, “Extensions should come with notification letters to the lawyers, but our lawyers haven’t received any.” He answered, “We are following procedures. This is the best era, and we will definitely handle your case fairly and justly.”

The women persisted, “When will the case go to trial? How long do we have to wait for this process?” but President Xie replied, “The case is still in process. Continue to wait for news, and don’t interfere with the case on Weibo.”

After the meeting the women reportedly felt very sad but said they would continue to fight for justice until their husbands are released. They are pictured outside the court holding placards that read: “Long detention without decision, complete inaction”, “Freedom of belief, Christian offerings are not fraud”, and “Release Li Jie, Han Xiaodong, Wang Qiang”.

Following the meeting at the court the three wives went straight to the Linfen Intermediate People’s Court to report the injustice, and in the afternoon they went to report it at the Municipal Party Committee’s Petition Office and the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress.

China Aid notes that in June 2024 Court President Xie went to the detention centre to interrogate Li Jie, Han Xiaodong and Wang Qiang and asked them to plead guilty and accept punishment. The three Christians stated that they would absolutely not plead guilty or accept punishment.

Court President “unavailable” 

The pastors’ wives made four previous attempts in July 2024 to arrange a meeting with President Xie to explain the injustice of the case, but were told each time that he was unavailable.

On July 3 Li Shanshan and Chen Ying went to the Yaodu District Court to request a meeting and were told, “President Xie is on a business trip and will be away for a week”.

On 5 July Wen Huijuan called the court to inquire when President Xie would meet them and the court replied, “It’s not a legal procedure for President Xie to meet with the defendants’ families. President Xie hasn’t given a response about whether to meet or not, so you should wait for news.”

On 23 July Li Shanshan, Chen Ying and Wen Huijuan went to the Yaodu District Court together to request a meeting with President Xie. They entered the court’s lobby and called the offices of President Xie and Judge Jia Jing, with no response from either. Later, staff from the court’s petition office called them to the office, where the wives requested a meeting with President Xie and asked for a clear response immediately on whether he would meet them or not. When the clerk told them that President Xie was in a meeting the wives said they would wait, whereupon the clerk responded, “President Xie will be in meetings all day”. The wives said they would return next day, but the clerk said, “President Xie will be in meetings for a week”.

On 29 July the three wives again went to the Yaodu District Court to request a meeting with President Xie but were told that he was out for training.

Crackdown on Linfen Church

Linfen Covenant Church is a large, unregistered church in northeast China’s Shanxi province. A crackdown began on 19 August 2022, when over one hundred police officers raided an outdoor family camp attended by seventy members. Officers searched all church members present, confiscated their mobile phones and took them away overnight, allowing some of the children to go home after 2 am.

Li Jie, Li Shanshan and Han Xiaodong were taken into detention, while police searched their homes at 3 am and removed documents and books. Li Shanshan was released on bail after two weeks but Li Jie and Han Xiaodong were formally arrested on 30 September and charged with “fraud”. Local authorities shut down the church in November 2022 because it had not registered with the government and had organised events without authorisation.

Since the crackdown began the authorities have brought in many church members for questioning in an attempt to gather evidence and false testimony against the detained leaders. Some members have been pressurised by their employers and families to say they were victims of fraud and some have signed pledges not to attend the church.

Linfen Covenant Church refuses to join the government-controlled Three-Self Church and in 2018 Pastor Li Jie signed “A Joint Statement by Pastors: A Declaration for the Sake of the Christian Faith”, a statement written by Pastor Wang Yi of Early Rain Covenant Church calling for religious freedom in China and protesting against increased state interference in religious activities since new Regulations for Religious Affairs had come into effect in February 2018.

The Joint Statement was signed by over four hundred Chinese church leaders, many of whom have been harassed since they signed. Linfen Covenant Church has endured constant harassment and persecution since Li Jie signed the Joint Statement.

(China Aid, Bitter Winter)

Photos: China Aid