Four years ago, several co-workers and more than 70 believers of a house church in Liangshan prefecture, Sichuan Province, were arrested; one of them was severely beaten while in custody.
At noon on March 31, 2014, over ten officers from the National Security Brigade of a county in Liangshan prefecture and a town police station illegally entered and raided the home of Yang Ping, a coworker of a house church. After searching the house for Bibles and other religious materials, they arrested Yang Ping and took him straight to jail.
At noon on April 3, Yang Ping, handcuffed and with shackles on his legs, was taken to a hospital for a physical examination. Because of an injured ankle and continuous bleeding from the wound, he was in pain and could only walk in small steps.
After the exam, Yang Ping was transferred from the jail to a detention center, where, according to him, the guards instigated seven of his cellmates to beat him savagely. One of his ribs was broken, and Yang Ping was left on the ground in pain, unable even to use the toilet by himself. Despite his injuries, he was not provided with medical care and was refused to contact his family.
According to sources, six other believers from his village were also taken into custody on the day of Yang Ping’s arrest. Some of them were intimidated by the police, while others were viciously beaten. One believer named Li Jiang, in his seventies and suffering from hypertension fainted after being threatened by officers who ignored his state and sent him to a hospital only half an hour later.
From March to May of the same year, four co-workers and more than 70 believers from Yang Ping’s church were arrested, including seven of his relatives. On May 10, the court sentenced Yang Ping and his younger brother Yang Jun to one year in prison, with a one-year suspension, for “using a xie jiao organization to undermine law enforcement” and fined them 3,000 RMB. Yang Ping’s family used their connections and spent over 10,000 RMB in bribes. Additionally, they had to pay 5,000 RMB in bail.
Two coworkers were sentenced to two years in prison, with a three-year suspension, and fined 5,000 RMB. They were required to report to the Justice Bureau regularly and keep their mobile phones on at all times.
According to sources, following Yang Ping’s release, the police had arranged to have two village cadres and one villager monitor his whereabouts closely. As soon as they discovered strangers or religious devotees in contact with him, village cadres would interrogate him.
Since Yang Ping did not receive timely medical treatment after his rib had been broken, he is unable to do heavy work and needs to take medication to date. As a result of malnutrition and copious amounts of bleaching powder in the water during his detention, Yang Ping suffers from severe stomach problems.
(All names in the above article are pseudonyms.)
Reported by Yao Zhangjin
