Four Shuozhou Pastors Released after Successful ChinaAid Campaign

Here's some good news coming from our friends at China Aid.

SHANXI--Due to a successful legal defense and media campaign by ChinaAid, Pastors Jia Jun, Ren Baoqing and Lin Zhengyuan were allowed to finish filing their respective bailout applications on March 4th.  Family members were allowed to bring them home from the detention center this morning, March 5th. As a face-saving measure by the PSB of Shuozhou City, Shanxi province, Pastor Ma Fei was arbitrarily sentenced to one year Re-education through Labor; however, the government will allow him to be bailed out of detention, once his case has been moved back to the Public Security jurisdiction of Shuozhou City. The four church leaders were accused of being members of an evil cult, and they were formally arrested and indicted for this charge in January, 2010. (See the CAA report from 1/28/2010).

Thanks to the legal intervention of the two Christian lawyers, Dr. Li Baiguang and Zhang Kai, the court and the prosecutors were persuaded that the charges had insufficient evidence; the court concluded that the arrested leaders were not members of an evil cult, but evangelical Christian faithfuls. The court then refused to try the leaders and had the case sent back to the prosecutors. Due to heightened international publicity and pressure exercised by ChinaAid's media campaign, the prosecution decided not to resubmit the case or press for further prosecution.

The Shanxi court's rejection of the Shuozhou Church case is a landmark victory for House Church Christians in China. Not only were officials forced to drop the charges, but evangelical Christians were vindicated for their faith, and affirmed as true believers. The court ruled they could not be tried as "evil cult" members, setting the precedent for future cases against Chinese Christians accused of this charge.

View the "Confession of Faith" issued by Shuozhou Word of Life Church members, and one member's personal testimony.

ChinaAid thanks the international community for their targeted support of Shuozhou Church members and for their faithful prayers. We thank the Chinese Legal Defenders who fought to uphold the truth in the Chinese courts. We also thank the Shanxi courts for upholding rule of law in their region, and urge all district and regional courts in China to follow their example.