Human Rights: 10 Cases of CAG Christians Arrested and Persecuted After Return to China

Chinese            English

The Church of Almighty God (CAG) is a Christian church founded in China in 1991. It teaches that Almighty God is the second coming of the Lord Jesus. He has uttered millions of words to uncover all the mysteries held within the Bible and delivered all truths necessary for the purification and salvation of mankind, thus enabling people to have a true understanding of the work and disposition of God, to have their corruption cleansed, and to attain His salvation. Ever since Almighty God appeared to perform His work, the number of people who have accepted Almighty God’s gospel of the last days has continued to grow. The CCP sources credited the CAG with four million members. Its rapid growth has aroused the panic and hatred of the CCP, as a result of which the CAG has been suffering its long-standing suppression and severe persecution. According to incomplete statistics of the CAG, just between 2011 and the end of 2017, at least 400,000 CAG Christians were arrested by the Chinese authorities simply because they held the Church literature and engaged in legitimate religious practices such as attending gatherings and preaching the gospel. Many of them were imprisoned, sentenced and given various inhuman torture. As of the end of July 2019, at least 111 CAG Christians were persecuted to death, among whom some died from torture or forced organ harvesting. In 2018 alone, 20 CAG Christians died as a result of persecution.

In recent years, the CCP has been suppressing all religions and has intensified its persecution of The Church of Almighty God, thus thousands of CAG Christians have to flee China, some of whom have been granted asylum status in some democracies. The persecution of the CAG has attracted concerns of the United Nations, the U.S. government and NGOs. Many human rights reports, such as the following ones, have noted the brutal persecution suffered by the CAG in China and denounced the CCP’s wanton trampling on religious freedom. On November 6 of 2018, during the Universal Periodic Review of China, the United Nations published the summary of stakeholders’ submissions on China, which points out that “during 2014-2018, the Chinese Communist Party’s monitoring, arrest, and persecution had caused at least 500,000 Church of Almighty God (CAG) Christians to flee their home, and several hundred thousand families had been torn apart.” In the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2018 released by United States Department of State, it mentioned that “members of the Church of Almighty God also reported systematic torture in custody.” It is noted in the Annual Report 2019 of USCIRF (United States Commission on International Religious Freedom), “Many of those detained during the year [2018]—whom the Church of Almighty God estimates to be in the thousands—suffered torture and other abuses, in some cases resulting in deaths or unexplained disappearances while in custody.”

In order to completely eradicate The Church of Almighty God, since 2014 the CCP has issued multiple official documents to carry out “overseas investigation” of the CAG across the country, sorting out the exit and entry information of the CAG Christians, establishing the database of the CAG Christians having left the country, and conducting such policies as “developing individualized special operational plan and adopting tactics of division and disintegration” in an attempt to extradite CAG Christians for further persecution. For example, in an internal document (https://pse.is/FPTZY) issued on July 3 of 2015, the CCP clearly required all localities to conduct investigations into CAG Christians that have left the country in order to comprehensively get a hold of the basic situation, including the activities carried out overseas, their relatives within China, the relatives’ work units, and so on. Analysis and research were conducted on each member, and special working plans were formulated on a person-by-person basis. The CCP issued another document (https://bit.ly/2MpSAH4) in 2018 to further require to “combine the tactics of division, disintegration, suppression, and deterrence” to intensify its crackdown on The Church of Almighty God. This includes suppressing and deterring CAG Christians through domestic real estate, retirement pension, medical insurance, bank savings, etc.

As the CCP issued more documents, it has gradually increased its harassment to CAG Christians overseas. Just take South Korea, in May of 2016, the CCP sent agents to South Korea to kidnap CAG refugee Zhang Fu but at the last minute he made a thrilling escape at the airport. After that, the CCP repeatedly harassed the refugees’ relatives within China, coerced and lured them into coming to South Korea and participating in more than ten false “spontaneous demonstrations” organized by a pro-CCP activist O Myung-ok, so as to create public opinions and urge the Korean government to deport those refugees. One CCP insider revealed that if they succeed in extraditing CAG refugees in South Korea, they will expand this practice to other countries.

It is learned that so far more than 40 CAG Christians have suffered the CCP’s arrest and persecution after return to China. Among them, one was brutally tortured to the point of disability; one was sentenced to 5 years of imprisonment; one was held in indoctrination center and unaccounted for; many went missing after return to China, and their whereabouts are still unknown. But here we only expose ten cases. Considering the safety of those Christians and their family members in China, we use pseudonym in these cases.

Case 1

CAG Christian Zhang Xin Arrested and Sentenced to 5 Years of Imprisonment After Returning from South Korea

Zhang Xin, female, 34 years old, in Zhaodong City of Heilongjiang Province, began to believe in Lord Jesus in 1991, and joined The Church of Almighty God (CAG) in December of 2007. Zhang Xin, after she believed in God, has always been enthusiastic about spreading the gospel, and for this reason has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist government. In order to maintain her belief, she fled to South Korea.

In June 2013, Zhang Xin returned from South Korea to the Liaoning Province in China to renew her visa, attracting the attention of the Chinese Communist authorities.

On June 22, while Zhang Xin was attending a worship gathering, police surrounded the building of the meeting location, and more than ten officers forced entry into the locked room, flashing an arrest warrant, handcuffing her and escorting her to the local police station for interrogation.

During the interrogation, the police chief questioned Zhang Xin about church information and hit her in the face with his fist, knocking two of Zhang Xin’s incisors loose, and causing her face to swell with bruises.

The next day, police blindfolded Zhang Xin with a hood and continued to torture her for information after taking her to a secret interrogation room specially designed for CAG Christians. Multiple police officers bound Zhang Xin to a tiger bench, questioning her in turn about her route to South Korea, where people were assembling in Korea, and who else had been to Korea with her, etc. Officers then took out pictures of other CAG Christians who had gone to Korea, and asked Zhang Xin to identify them. Zhang Xin said nothing. Police responded with aggression, saying, “This time Xi Jinping issued orders that we primarily target people from The Church of Almighty God; we’re going to capture the lot of you, and put you all in prison!” Then police tried to use an attractive man to lure her, and when that didn’t work they became exasperated and sprayed Zhang Xin in the face with an unknown chemical liquid, causing her face to burn, and leaving her unable to open her eyes.

The interrogation yielded no results, and police later escorted Zhang Xin to a detention center.

On June 26, 2014, the Ganjinzi District People’s Court of Dalian City, Liaoning Province accused Zhang Xin of “using a xie jiao organization to undermine the enforcement of the law,” and sentenced her to five years in prison. In October of the same year, she was transferred to Liaoning Women’s Prison to serve her time.

When she served her time in the prison, prison guards intensely indoctrinated Zhang Xin on multiple occasions, attempting to force her to write Statement of Guarantee, Statement of Confession, Statement of Repentance, Statement of Denouncing and Criticism, as well as Statement of Break-up (a statement of intention to break off relations with the Church).

In January of 2018, Zhang Xin was released upon her completing her sentence.

Case 2

CAG Christian Li Ying Tortured and Sentenced to 3 Years of Imprisonment After Returning from South Korea

Li Ying, female, 49 years old, is from Dalian City in Liaoning Province and joined The Church of Almighty God (CAG) in 2005. Because of the Chinese Communist government’s mad arrests and persecution of CAG Christians. In early April 2013, she fled to South Korea.

Li Ying’s visa expired in early May 2013, so she had no choice but to return to Dalian from South Korea to handle the renewal formalities.

Around 2 p.m. on June 24, 2013, while on a bus, she was stopped by Dalian Shahekou District police officers and was handcuffed and forced into a police car. In the car, an officer ferociously gave her two heavy slaps in the face. Immediately, her right face was in unbearable pain.

At about 4 p.m. the same day, Li Ying was taken into a hotel in the Shahekou District. The officers searched her bag and found an MP5 player, two cellphones, and several spiritual books. They asked her, “Where did these things come from? Who converted you to believe in Almighty God?” When she wouldn’t respond, five officers swarmed her and got her down onto the floor facing up. One officer put a pen-sized stick between each of her four fingers, near the knuckles, and then squeezed them hard; while another officer began to brush the soles of her feet with a brush. She suffered so much that she cried out continuously from the pain.

Ten minutes later the police continued the interrogation. They asked, “Who sent you to South Korea? Who are your leaders? What’s your position in the Church?” They viciously barked at her, “This hotel is specially rent to interrogate you Almighty God believers. You Almighty God believers would have been executed by shooting during the Cultural Revolution.” The interrogation lasted until after 10 p.m., but with no results. An officer ordered fiercely, “No food! No sleep! Go put a bottle of mineral water on the top of her head. If the bottle drops, pour the water over her. We’ll deal with her tomorrow.” Li Ying stood against the wall, with a bottle of mineral water on her head. She failed to hold on at 7:00 next morning and the bottle dropped. An officer poured the water in it over her and refilled it, and put it on her head and ordered her to continue standing against the wall.

The police continued their interrogation of Li Ying at about 8 a.m. on June 25, asking her about her trip to South Korea. Seeing that they couldn’t get any answers from her, they bent her over on the ground facing down and jammed their knees into her back, grabbed her hair, and smacked her face. The right side of her face turned black and blue and she lost hearing in her right ear, which took six months to regain.

The morning of June 26 the officers brought toothpicks and a pen, and said hatefully, “Today I’m going to pry up your fingernails one by one and show you what I’m made of!” As he spoke he pinched Li Ying’s thumb and forced the tip of the pen into her nail then aggressively swiveled it around. She was immediately in so much pain that she screamed involuntarily. By the end of the interrogation, they still had not gotten the information they wanted.

In the afternoon of June 26, 2013, Li Ying was sent to the Dalian Detention Center.

On September 25, 2014, Li Ying was sentenced by Pulandian City People’s Court, Liaoning Province to three years in prison on the charge of “organizing and using a xie jiao organization to undermine the enforcement of the law” and was sent to Liaoning Province Women’s Prison to serve her sentence on November 4, 2014. Li Ying was released on April 24, 2016.

Case 3

CAG Christian Liu Ling Arrested and Tortured After Returning from South Korea

Liu Ling, female, 42 years old, is from Dalian City, Liaoning Province. She began believing in the Lord Jesus in 1998 and joined The Church of Almighty God (CAG) in 1999. Liu Ling is passionate about spreading the gospel and because of this, she has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist government. To continue her faith, in 2013 she fled to South Korea.

In June 2013, as her visa expired, Liu Ling returned from Korea to Dalian of Liaoning Province to apply for a new one. Her behavior attracted the attention of the police of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). At about 10 o’clock on the morning of June 23, as Liu Ling and several other Christians were holding assembly in Dalian’s Ganjingzi District, the CCP authorities mobilized nearly ten police vans and dozens of armed officers to completely surround the meeting spot. Over 10 police officers forced their way into the room, showed their badges, and shouted, “You are believers in Almighty God. You’re under arrest! None of you move!” Next, they handcuffed Liu Ling and the others and took them to the basement of the Criminal Investigation Brigade of Ganjingzi District, Dalian City, and interrogated them separately.

After she entered the interrogation room, the police shackled Liu Ling to a tiger bench and screamed at her, “The state does not permit you to believe in Almighty God. You’re all charged with political crimes. Under Xi Jinping’s new law, people who believe in Almighty God are to be sentenced to at least three to seven years in prison!” The police forced Liu Ling to tell them everything she knew about The Church of Almighty God in mainland China and Korea. They threatened, “We’ve had you under surveillance for over six months, we know everything about you! Tell us the truth! Which church do you belong to? Who is the leader? Why did you go to Korea? What did you do there? Who met you? Who did you work with? How many people did you convert in Korea?” They also held up multiple photos of Christians and asked her to identify them. When Liu Ling said nothing, they punched her on the forehead and on the top of her head for over ten minutes. Stars appeared in Liu Ling’s vision and her head started ringing. Three large bumps swelled up on her forehead.

On the afternoon of the third day, the police took Liu Ling to a hotel in Dalian City to continue interrogating her. They held up more photos of Christians and asked her to identify them. When she said nothing, the officers slapped her on the face and punched her on the forehead and the top of her head. They also tied her to a tiger bench and tortured her for more than four hours. They restrained her hands behind her back and shocked her on her head, wrists, and the backs of her hands with an electric baton. Screaming in pain, Liu Ling broke out in a sweat and couldn’t catch her breath. Watching her, the police laughed spitefully, “The government lets us beat you believers in God, we can beat you to death with impunity!” The shocks from the baton had blackened Liu Ling’s wrists and the backs of her hands. Her head was numb. But throughout it all, Liu Ling said nothing.

On June 27, 2013, the police took Liu Ling to Dalian Detention Center. After that, her family pulled some strings and spent over 100,000 RMB to bail her out for a year.

After her release, the police kept Liu Ling under long-term surveillance and telephoned her every six months to ask about her belief in God. Today, Liu Ling’s case has still not been closed.

After being cuffed to a bench and tortured by the police for several days straight, Liu Ling suffers pain in her lumbar and can’t lift heavy objects. Her right leg is numb, and she experiences severe discomfort if she walks for more than a short distance. Today, she still lives amid the suffering of pain and loss of freedom.

Case 4

CAG Christian Zhou Min Arrested and Sentenced to 4 Years in Prison After Returning from South Korea

Zhou Min, female, 31 years old, is a native of Yuncheng City, Shanxi Province. She is a Christian from The Church of Almighty God (CAG). On February 26, 2015 she entered South Korea on a tourist visa, got in touch with the local CAG and then returned to China on March 12. She heard that CAG Christians who returned to China had been arrested and persecuted by the Chinese Communist authorities for contacting the CAG overseas, so she didn’t dare return home after she got back to China.

On September 18, 2015, seven or eight police officers with the local Public Security Bureau burst into Zhou Min’s rented room and arrested her; they also found and took her passport. They then took her to a hotel in Jiang County for secret interrogations, the details of which are unknown. She was later criminally detained.

Informed sources revealed that the police of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) placed Zhou Min’s entire family under telephone surveillance and ultimately found out where she was hiding.

On October 15 the same year, Zhou Min was placed under residential surveillance by the Jiang County Public Security Bureau.

On December 9, the monitoring of her residence was lifted; she was subjected to criminal detention the very same day, and taken into custody at the Yuncheng City Yanhu District Detention Center.

On April 20, 2017, Zhou Min was sentenced to four years in prison by the Jiang County People’s Court of Shanxi Province on the charge of “using a xie jiao organization to undermine the law enforcement,” and was also fined 2,000 RMB (about 300 USD). The court did not notify her family when she was sentenced.

In June 2017, Zhou Min was placed in the Shanxi Women’s Prison to serve out her sentence which will be completed on November 10, 2019.

Case 5

CAG Christian Wu Xin Arrested and Sentenced to 3.5 Years of Imprisonment After Returning from Switzerland

Wu Xin, female, born in 1956 in Linyi City, Shandong Province, joined The Church of Almighty God (CAG) in September of 2004. After that, Wu Xin has always been enthusiastic about spreading the gospel, and on April 23, 2015, in order to evade persecution of the Chinese Communist government toward CAG Christians, Wu Xin fled to Switzerland to seek religious asylum.

In the early February of 2017, she received a deportation order from the Swiss government and had to return to China on May 2, 2017. After going back to China, Wu Xin was too afraid to return home, and instead rented a room in the family housing facility of a construction company in Linshu County.

On the night of June 27, 2017, police from the Linshu County Public Security Bureau of Linyi City, Shandong forced entry into Wu Xin’s rented place and arrested her, seizing a laptop computer and a cell phone that she had bought when abroad, as well as her bank passbook and bank card for receiving salary. Afterward, police froze Wu Xin’s assets, as well as the money that her younger sister had in a bank.

On June 30, the local authority placed Wu Xin under an administrative detention for 15 days, accusing her of participation in activities of Almighty God organization.

On July 14, Wu Xin was taken into criminal custody on suspicion of “using a xie jiao organization to undermine the enforcement of the law” and detained in the Linyi Detention Center.

On February 9, 2018, the Shandong Linshu People’s Court sentenced Wu Xin to 3.5 years in prison and fined her 30,000 RMB (about 4,457 USD) on the charge of “using a xie jiao organization to undermine the enforcement of the law.” She was then sent to Rizhao Prison in Shandong to serve her sentence.

Wu Xin is currently still in prison, her sentence scheduled to end on December 29, 2020.

Case 6

CAG Christian Ma Kun Arrested and Subjected to Intense Indoctrination After Returning from South Korea

Ma Kun, male, 34 years old, is from Jingmen City in Hubei Province. He joined The Church of Almighty God (CAG) in 2012. To escape the Chinese Communist government’s persecution of CAG Christians, Ma Kun fled to South Korea in October 2014. While there, he played several roles in the Church’s gospel films which were released online and distributed widely. On March 11, 2017, Ma Kun had to go back to China’s Hubei Province for medical treatment after developing heart problems, but never dared return home.

In May 2017, Ma Kun went to Hubei’s Xiangyang City to handle some matters. He checked into a hotel opposite the Xiangyang Coach Station.

Around 8 a.m. on May 13 as Ma Kun was at the hotel’s front desk preparing to check out, he was stopped by Feng, the captain of the Hubei Province Jingmen National Security Brigade and five or six of his plainclothes officers. Without showing any documentation they grabbed his bag and began to search it. They didn’t find anything, but handcuffed him and took him to a secret interrogation location in Jingmen. They handcuffed him to a chair and several officers worked in shifts, keeping a close watch on him.

The next day, Feng and others interrogated Ma Kun and tried to get him to divulge information on the Church as well as how he got to South Korea. Ma Kun refused to answer. Feng said, “We’ve already known your movements and situation. Just tell us the truth!” He responded that he just believed in God and was spreading the gospel and had not done anything illegal. Feng yelled fiercely, “Believing in God is against the law! You don’t get to say if something is illegal or not, only the national law counts!” He went on to shout, “Your church was defined as a xie jiao by the government a long time ago; it’s a major target to strike out against. Confess! If you don’t you’ll be sentenced to prison!” Feng then repeatedly asked Ma Kun about his trip to South Korea and information on the CAG there. “When did you start believing in Almighty God? Why did you go to South Korea? How many of you went there? Where did you go in South Korea, and who hosted you there? How did you get in touch with them? Who are the leaders of your church in South Korea? What’s their names?” The police also showed him many photographs of CAG Christians who had fled to South Korea, asking him to identify them and trying to force him to give up their personal information and their positions in the Church. They interrogated him continuously for a week without result.

After that they sent him to the Hubei Province Political Re-education Center for intense indoctrination and forced him to write a statement of guarantee that he had renounced his faith. During that time several officers with the Jingmen Public Security Bureau questioned him twice; they again showed him a large number of photographs of Christians who had fled the country and asked him to identify them, but to no avail. The police would not give up; they tried to force Ma Kun to sell out the top leaders and other Christians in his church in mainland China, showing him more photographs to identify people in them.

Around June 20, Feng and several officers took Ma Kun to Changsha City, Hunan Province to identify Christians’ home in an attempt to arrest high-level leaders. When their plot failed, the police told Ma Kun menacingly, “People like you are sentenced to at least three years in prison! It would be a great service if you helped us get a top CAG leader and we could reduce your sentence.” The police wanted him to return to the church as a spy and enticed him with promises of a reward of 2,000 RMB/month and additional payment if they were successful.

Ma Kun was released on July 21, 2017 after being held for more than two months.

Since Ma Kun returned home, the police visited him at home frequently inquiring about his contact with the Church. Ma Kun is still under surveillance by the CCP police to this day.

Case 7

CAG Christian Nursing Mother Zhao Jia Arrested, Interrogated and Disallowed to Leave the Country After Returning from US

Zhao Jia, female, 32 years old, an ordinary Christian from The Church of Almighty God (CAG), is from Nanyang City in Henan Province. In 2011, she went to live in the US with her husband. The two of them had to go back to China in 2014 because her husband’s visa had expired, and they took up temporary residence in their hometown in Henan.

In September of 2014, six plainclothes officers with the Nanyang National Security Bureau charged into Zhao Jia’s home and took her, still a nursing mother, away for confidential questioning under the pretext that everyone coming back into the country must undergo investigation.

The leader of the provincial national security bureau tried both the carrot and the stick to obtain information on the Church and kept her for questioning for as long as nine days. During the interrogation, the officer said, “We don’t care about what you do inside the country. We just want to know how you, your mother, and your younger brother practiced your beliefs while abroad, how you got in touch with The Church of Almighty God, and how you proselytize. Even if you keep silent, we’ll still be able to get their information. It’s very easy to take them back to China! If you’re not honest with us, you’ll get a heavy sentence after we get them arrested!” Seeing that she refused to speak, the officer once again enticed and threatened her that he wouldn’t let her go home and take care of her infant before his questions were clearly answered. Zhao Jia asked the officer, “What law does our faith break so that you really have to arrest us? I’m still nursing; you can’t arrest and detain me. As a law enforcement agency, how can you break the law?” Shamed and provoked, the officer yelled at her, “You really dare tell me about the law? Let me tell you, here I represent the country and the law. I am the law!”

After that several other officers repeatedly asked Zhao Jia the same questions and had her husband go advise her to give up information on the Church, but she would not comply. The chief of the security bureau later menacingly intimidated Zhao Jia, “If you don’t start to cooperate you’ll get a harsh sentence. I’m telling you, we can make you lose your job with one phone call and even your relatives will be dragged into this. We have ways of dealing with you!” They finally let her go after all of their questioning came to nothing. As she was about to go, an officer warned her, “You have to report to us if you go anywhere else to work, visit relatives, or travel. Even if you leave the city, make a report.” Zhao Jia remained under constant residential surveillance after returning home.

In June 2015, Zhao Jia and her family were going through customs at the Beijing airport after handling all the formalities to go to the US, but her passport was flagged as lost in the computer system. The employee told her that she was not allowed to leave the country.

So far, Zhao Jia is unable to leave China.

Case 8

CAG Christian Liang Xin Arrested and Subjected to Intense Indoctrination Upon Returning from Japan

Liang Xin, female, 32 years old, is from Xi’an City in Shaanxi Province; she joined The Church of Almighty God (CAG) in October 2010. She entered Japan on a tourist visa on June 17, 2016 and attended gatherings at The Church of Almighty God while in Japan.

The afternoon of July 17, 2018, Liang Xin boarded a flight back to China for treatment for a lumbar disc herniation and eczema. The CCP had issued orders requiring thorough investigation of overseas members of The Church of Almighty God, so Liang Xin didn’t dare return home in order to evade arrest. That evening around 6:00 p.m., she took a taxi to her aunt’s home in the Baqiao District of Xi’an. To her surprise, the CCP police already had their eyes on her and tailed the taxi the entire way.

Ten or so minutes after Liang Xin arrived at her aunt’s home, over a dozen officers with the Xi’an National Security Agency and Public Security Bureau, and the Baqiao Police Station got into the building under the guise of renting a unit and quickly started searching everywhere, both upstairs and downstairs. The police asked Liang Xin’s aunt whether she knew her niece believed in Almighty God and questioned Liang Xin, “Why did you go to Japan? Why did you come back? Whose support did you have in going to Japan to proselytize?” When they couldn’t procure any information, the police put Liang Xin into a police cruiser and took her to the Baqiao Branch of Xi’an Public Security Bureau. The police confiscated the two suitcases and one bag she had brought back with her.

The afternoon of July 18, Liang Xin was taken by the police to Xi’an’s Baqiao Legal Education Center (a kind of extralegal intense indoctrination and detention center) where she was subjected to two months of intense indoctrination. During that time they interrogated her four times, asking her about her faith and why she had gone to Japan, but she refused to answer. While at the intense indoctrination center she was watched by coaches 24 hours a day; she wasn’t allowed to take half a step out of her bedroom, she wasn’t allowed to pray, and she wasn’t allowed to turn off the lights. She couldn’t close the door when using the bathroom or showering, and was force-fed CCP rumors defaming and smearing The Church of Almighty God on a daily basis. This psychological torture left Liang Xin suffering and depressed; she often wept at night and her hair started coming out in large clumps. Her blood pressure plummeted to 50-70 mmHg, causing her to pass out on her bed and be unable to stand up a number of times.

On July 24, two officers with the Baqiao Police Station paid another visit to her aunt’s home and shouted at her, “We saw from the airport surveillance that Liang Xin took four bags back to China with her. One bag is missing.” They forced her aunt to hand over the bag where they found a laptop and a portable hard drive Liang Xin had brought back.

The morning of September 17, Liang Xin was sentenced to 15 days of administrative detention by the Baqiao police in Xi’an on the charge of “harming society with xie jiao, secret society, or superstitious activities.”

Liang Xin was released on October 2, 2018, and she is still under CCP government surveillance to this day.

Case 9

CAG Christian Bai Xue Arrested and Detained After Returning to China from Canada

Bai Xue, female, 54 years old, living in Korla, Xinjiang, joined The Church of Almighty God in 2009.

August 7, 2017, Bai Xue entered Canada on a tourist visa and made contact with the local branch of The Church of Almighty God. December 2 of the same year she returned to China, after which she became a priority target for investigation by the CCP.

Around 5:00 p.m. on October 10, 2018, Bai Xue was arrested by three officers with the National Security Brigade of Korla City, Xinjiang Province while at home; they ransacked her house in their search. That evening a little past 10 the police took Bai Xue to the clinic that she had opened to search there as well. They didn’t find any faith-related materials but later locked her up in the National Security Brigade.

On October 12 she was transferred by the police to another detention facility; location details are unknown.

One police officer revealed that Bai Xue had travelled abroad before and was suspected to be a high-level leader in The Church of Almighty God. He also referred to Bai Xue’s participating in church activities abroad as an “international crime” and said that the China’s Ministry of State Security has stepped in—the investigation will take at least one to two years.

Bai Xue’s daughter has visited her mother in detention, and reported that her mental state is very poor and both of her legs are swollen, which is clearly the result of the inhuman torture.

Bai Xue’s husband has been in a constant state of distress since her arrest. Unable to withstand such a blow, he has suffered from continuous health issues and treatment has been ineffective. The entire family is living in torment.

Bai Xue is still being detained by the CCP to this day.

Case 10

Mother and Daughter Believers in Almighty God Arrested and Sentenced After Returning to China from New Zealand

Zheng Yi, female, 47 years old, is from Ji’nan City in Shandong Province; she joined The Church of Almighty God in 1999 and served as a church leader. Jiang Ya, her daughter, 20 years old, joined The Church of Almighty God in 2013. On May 1, 2015, Zheng Yi went to New Zealand on a tourist visa where she attended church gatherings; in January 2016 her daughter joined her in New Zealand to attend school.

On September 12, 2016, Zheng Yi returned to Shandong Province to attend her son’s wedding, and Jiang Ya also went back on September 26.

Zheng Yi’s and her daughter were not aware that the CCP government had already investigated and confirmed their belief in Almighty God.

At about 5:30 a.m. on October 7, police with the Ji’nan Shizhong District Ganshiqiao Police Station suddenly barged into Zheng Yi’s home, arresting mother and daughter and taking them to the station.

On October 8 and November 7, Zheng Yi and her daughter were respectively criminally detained on suspicion of “organizing and using a xie jiao organization to undermine the enforcement of the law.” They were taken to the Ji’nan Detention Center.

On September 28, 2018, the Shizhong District People’s Court in Ji’nan determined that Zheng Yi had believed in Almighty God for years, had worked as a leader in the church, and had hosted senior leaders. It also determined that after Jiang Ya joined The Church of Almighty God she had produced videos for the church, and according to Article 300, paragraph 1 of China’s Criminal Law, they were found guilty of “organizing and using a xie jiao organization to undermine the enforcement of the law.” Zheng Yi was sentenced to three years (until October 7, 2019) and fined 10,000 RMB (about 1,485 USD); Jiang Ya was sentenced to two years in prison (until October 21, 2018) and fined 5,000 RMB (about 742 USD).

Jiang Ya served her full sentence and has been released, but Zheng Yi is still serving her time.

An informant revealed that after Zheng Yi and Jiang Ya were arrested and detained because of their belief in Almighty God, Zheng Yi’s husband was also publicly criticized by the inspection team, and their entire household is being monitored by the CCP.

Get the PDF Version: Download

Source：ADHRRF