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Bitter Winter

A magazine on religious liberty and human rights

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Home / China / News China

House Church Leader Forced to Flee Fearing Arrest

06/21/2018Bitter Winter |

Source: Direct Reports from China
Date: June 21, 2018

Surveilled and chased after by the Communist Party authorities for her religious beliefs, 49-year-old house church leader from Huancui District in the city of Weihai, Shandong Province was forced to flee her home more than two years ago. The police continue to constantly burst into her home asking about her whereabouts and harassing her family.

According to a source, on March 25, 2016, Li Minrui (pseudonym) and a few other Christians were holding an assembly in Huancui District’s Wenquan town when three officers from the Municipal Public Security Bureau suddenly barged in. They were arbitrarily arrested for involvement with “anti-Party groups” and were taken to an armed police detachment. That evening, the police ransacked Li Minrui’s house, turning it upside down and confiscating all religious books and documents. Li was subsequently detained for 15 days, while others were released after four days.

After her release, Li Minrui, afraid to be arrested again, fled home. Missing her family, she returned during the Dragon Boat Festival (a traditional holiday held near the summer solstice) in 2016. Her husband told her the police had come looking for her many times, trying to arrest her again. She had no choice but to flee again and remains in hiding to this day. The police continue to harass her family even after two years since she had left – in the middle of May 2018, officers from the Huancui District Public Security Bureau forced their way into Li Minrui’s home and threatened her husband demanding him to disclose her location.

Tagged With: House Churches, Religious Liberty

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Bitter Winter

Bitter Winter reports on how religions are allowed, or not allowed, to operate in China and how some are severely persecuted after they are labeled as “xie jiao,” or heterodox teachings. We publish news difficult to find elsewhere, analyses, and debates.
Placed under the editorship of Massimo Introvigne, one of the most well-known scholars of religion internationally, “Bitter Winter” is a cooperative enterprise by scholars, human rights activists, and members of religious organizations persecuted in China (some of them have elected, for obvious reasons, to remain anonymous).

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