House Church Alliance’s No. 2 Sentenced to Labor Camp

SUQIAN CITY, Jiangsu, -- In a further sign of the intensifying crackdown on China's unregistered house churches, the deputy chairman of the Chinese House Church Alliance has been given a two-year labor camp sentence, ChinaAid has learned. Pastor Shi Enhao (photo) has been sentenced to two years of "re-education through labor," an extra-judicial punishment that is handed out by police and requires no trial or conviction of a crime. It is often used for those who have committed minor criminal offenses or for dissidents and adherents of religious groups, such as house church Christians and Falun Gong practitioners. The charge on the sentencing papers is "illegal meetings and illegal organizing of venues for religious meetings." This charge stems from the fact that Pastor Shi's large house church of several thousand members meets in various different sites around the city.

The greater significance of Shi's sentencing on this charge has to do with the events surrounding the Shouwang Church in Beijing and its controversial decision in April to meet outdoors after being evicted once again from its leased meeting site. Critics of Shouwang's decision pointed out that when other house churches have grown too large to meet in one place without making local officials nervous, most have avoided clashes with the authorities by breaking into smaller groups meeting in different locations. Pastor Shi's charge and sentence demonstrate that this strategy does not guarantee that the authorities will be appeased. Pastor Shi's son, Shi Yongyang, has been to the police station and signed the sentencing paperwork under police pressure. However, police refused to give him a copy of the signed documents. Meanwhile, the police's Domestic Security Protection Department has ordered Pastor Shi's church to stop meeting and confiscated the congregation's car, musical instruments and choir robes, as well as 140,000 yuan ($21,712.50) in donations. All three of Pastor Shi's daughters and their husbands have all been threatened by the police. Pastor Shi was detained on May 31 by police in Suqian city, coastal Jiangsu province, and held for 12 days. On June 21, he was criminally detained by the Suqian Public Security Bureau. Criminal detention is the first step in a legal process that almost inevitably leads to a prison sentence. Pastor Shi and his wife, Zhu Guangyun, are both 55 years old. His 86-year-old mother, Liu Guanglan, requires round-the-clock care, which Pastor Shi's wife provides. Pastor Shi's son, Shi Yongyang, and his wife are both in full-time ministry. Four generations of Shi's family have been serving the church. ChinaAid founder and president Bob Fu expressed shock at the news and strongly condemned the authorities in Jiangsu's Suqian city for sentencing Pastor Shi. He also called on the church and the international community to express their concern for and come to the aid of Pastor Shi. More details of Pastor Shi's case are available in ChinaAid's earlier report.

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