On 30 September Wang Qiang, a co-worker of Linfen Covenant House Church in northeast China’s Shanxi province, was released after nearly two years in detention without trial on a charge of fraud. He returned home to his family (pictured): his wife Wen Huijuan, their daughter and a son born during his detention, whom he had never met.
Police took Wang Qiang away on 1 November 2022 on suspicion of fraud after he refused to falsely testify against preachers Li Jie and Han Xiaodong from Linfen Covenant House Church – a large, unregistered church that refuses to join the officially-recognised Three-Self Church. The Chinese government often uses fraud as a charge against leaders of unregistered churches, falsely accusing them of defrauding the congregation by taking “illegal” collections and tithes.
Wang Qiang was initially placed under “residential surveillance at a designated location”, during which he suffered severe torture and interrogation, including sleep deprivation, being forced to sit on a “tiger bench” for seven days and seven nights, being hit on the head with books by police officers, and being given inadequate food. After complaining and reporting to the procuratorate he was transferred to criminal detention at the Yaodu District Detention Centre.
Wang Qiang is from Yaodu district in Linfen city and was born into a Christian family in the 1990s. He and Wen Huijuan went to university together and married after graduation. They started a business together and although not wealthy they were reportedly very content. At the time of Wang Qiang’s arrest his daughter was only 3 and Wen Huijuan was pregnant with their second child, who was born through C-section on 24 January 2023.
Raid
On the evening of 19 August 2022, hundreds of police officers raided a family camp attended by seventy members of Linfen Covenant Church. They searched everyone present, confiscated their mobile phones and took them away overnight, allowing some children to go home after 2 am.
Wang Qiang and preachers Li Jie and Han Xiaodong were accused of fraud and were detained in the following weeks. The case was formally submitted to the Linfen City Procuratorate for review and prosecution under the charge of fraud on 26 March 2023.
Local authorities shut down the church in November 2022 because it had not registered with the government and had organised events without authorisation. Since then the authorities have brought in many church members for questioning in an attempt to gather evidence and false testimony against the detained leaders.
Soon after the arrests, China Aid reported that “church leaders and ordinary believers are facing tremendous pressure from the department handling this case… Some brothers and sisters were placed under severe pressure from their workplace, their family members, and relatives and were forced to write down reports stating that they were ‘victims’ and accusing church preachers of defrauding their money. They also had to sign a pledge never to attend Linfen Covenant House Church again.”
In June 2024 Yaodu District Court President Xie Binghua went to the detention centre to interrogate the three church leaders and asked them to plead guilty and accept punishment. They stated that they would absolutely not plead guilty or accept punishment.
Li Jie and Han Xiaodong are still in detention and no court date has been set for the case.
Campaign for justice
Wen Huijuan constantly campaigned for justice during her husband’s imprisonment. She posted many times on Weibo, stating that the three imprisoned church leaders are honest, kind Christians who could never commit fraud. After her husband was detained she posted an article on Weibo titled “How did my Christian husband become a ‘fraudster’?” in which she publicly questioned how her kind and upright husband, who tithed to the church, could be charged with fraud.
In July 2024 Wen Huijuan, along with Li Jie’s wife Li Shanshan and Han Xiaodong’s wife Chen Ying, went to the Yaodu District Court five times to request a meeting with Court President Xie Binghua about their husbands’ long detention without trial. On 30 July, at their fifth attempt, their request for a meeting was granted and the Court President received them in a courtroom. He refused to acknowledge the illegality of extended detention without trial and warned the women not to criticise, comment on or interfere with the case on social media.
When the women asked, “When will the case go to trial? How long do we have to wait for this process?” Court 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 for their husbands. They are pictured protesting outside the court (from left: Li Shanshan, Chen Ying and Wen Huijuan) 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”.
(China Aid)
Photo: China Aid/Internet