The Guiyang house church elder who was detained by the authorities for more than two weeks was charged of "fraud" to justify his sudden transfer to another facility on the night before his release date.
The International Christian Concern (ICC) reports that Elder Zhang Chunlei, a leader at Guiyang Ren'ai Reformed Church, was supposed to walk free on March 28 when he was immediately charged of "fraud." Details of the said charge are still not available. Additionally, those that were detained with him were also freed sooner than Zhang's supposed last day of detention.
In an earlier report, Zhang and 12 other Christians were detained and questioned by Guiyang's police for holding an 'illegal assembly' which was also a 'large-scale gathering.' They were having a peaceful Bible study at a hotel when the police raided their location. The authorities also the elder's home and confiscated some of his valuables. They just told the wife that he will be detained for 11 days.
A follow up report states that Zhang's wife, Yang Aiqing, was just informed of her husband's transfer on March 28. She was told that the transfer happened the night before and no further explanation. The day after, police told Yang that her husband is now being 'criminally detained' but with no clear details as to what charge and for how long.
China Aid was able to reach Zhang's lawyer. He said that he was prevented from seeing his client on April 1. Four days later, he was finally able to see Zhang. The bedraggled elder told his lawyer that he has not slept much since his transfer from the detention center.
A Christian who knows Zhang told ICC that the authorities might use any means to make the church elder compromise his profession of the Christian faith. But Zhang is reputed to be a "tough man" who, like other Chinese Christians who have been arrested, will not easily flip even when faced with threats.
He was also reportedly among the first protestant pastors who signed the "Declaration of the Christian Faith" prepared by Pastor Wang Yi.
The ICC correspondent noted that the Chinese authorities have cooked up several charges they can accuse Christians with ranging from "subversion of state power," "illegal business operation," "illegal publication," "embezzlement," to "crossing borders illegally."
Because Christianity is seen as a threat to the CCP regime, the correspondent believes that their goal is "to keep them quiet and reduce their influence as most of them are leaders." Those who will refuse to accept CCP's conditions will suffer more injustices. But for those who will compromise, they will need to register their church with the bureau on religious affairs and join the CCP's Three-Self Church.
To date, Guiyang city, along with other cities with numerous Christian populations, has become one of the focal points for church crackdowns. Sadly, some locals work with city authorities in locating Christian gatherings which they labeled as "illegal religious activities." Just this February, Church Times predicts that the crackdowns on churches will worsen in China through the help of "half-a-billion digital surveillance cameras."
