The local police unlawfully detained a house church member from Tuquan because of her belief. Even after her release from custody, she is subjected to monitoring.
On November 11, 2016, at about 6 a.m., five officers from the county Public Security Bureau criminal police brigade climbed over a wall to get into the house of Sui Fengzhi (pseudonym). They handcuffed her, searched the home and later took her to the Hinggan Tuquan County Detention Center.
Seven days later, Sui Fengzhi was taken to a police station in the city of Ulanhot in Hinggan where the police continued to question her on her church’s finances and where she went to share the gospel. Forcing her to reveal the location of the church’s funds, they kept her awake for three continuous days and nights. “We’ve been following you for three months already. We know all the places you have gone to,” threatened the officers. After multiple interrogations yielded no results, Sui Fengzhi was sent to the Tuquan Detention Center for the crime of “unlawful proselytizing and disruption of social order.”
To get her out of prison, Sui Fengzhi’s family has paid in bribes to the director of the local Public Security Bureau and the captain of the criminal police brigade a total of 26,000 RMB. However, Sui Fengzhib remained behind bars for one year and was fined 15,000 RMB. She was released on November 11, 2017, and was warned by the police to give up her faith.
Sui Fengzhi continues to be under strict surveillance: she is not allowed to go anywhere without reporting to the village committee, and if she spends a more extended time visiting her neighbors, the village chief will call to urge her to go back home. The local police also intermittently go to her home to check on the status of her faith and see if she has gone out to preach the gospel.
There are many other Christians like Sui Fengzhi who have been subjected to long-term surveillance even after being released from prison, and many of them were forced to flee their homes. The government demands town and village committees, local public securities bureaus, police stations, and judicial offices, as well as the local chapters of Youth League Committee and Women’s Federation to monitor and report on believers.
Reported by Gu Qi
