On June 6, 2018, four Christians from a house Church in the city of Yicheng, Hubei Province were arrested by police and had their homes searched. To date, one of them is still being held illegally.
On June 6 at a little past 2 p.m., 54-year-old Christian Sun Zhen (pseudonym) and her husband were buying fertilizer at a supermarket when three officers from the town’s police station apprehended them. The officers performed a body search on Sun Zhen without providing any credentials and confiscated a cellphone and 700 RMB before taking her to a local police station.
Two hours later, six officers drove to Sun Zhen’s home and searched it. They found a Bible and other Christian materials. Soon after, police charged into the homes of three other Christians in the village, including the home of Xie Qiang (pseudonym), and searched them, leaving their houses in complete disarray. Police then ordered the three Christians to report to the police station the next day, threatening to arrest them otherwise.
The next day, Xie Qiang and the other two were forced to report to the police station. Police interrogated all four of them, including Sun Zhen, separately, shouting aggressively, “If you’re going to believe in something, believe in science! Believe in the Communist Party!” As the interrogation yielded no results, the four were later transferred to the Yicheng Public Security Bureau.
One of the Christians was released on the night of June 7; Xie Qiang and another individual were released after five days. Sun Zhen is still detained.
