A believer was arrested in 2015 and sentenced to two years in jail for believing in a heterodox religious movement.
Article 300 of the Chinese Criminal Code states that “using” a xie jiao (heterodox teachings) is a crime punishable with jail penalties from three to seven years “or more.” Jiang Xiujuan, a coworker at a house church in Dawa county, Panjin city, Liaoning Province, was charged with precisely this crime after she was arrested at a church meeting in October 28, 2015.
That day, Jiang Xiujuan and five other church members were together when four police officers suddenly barged into the home and took them away stating that they are charged with the crime of “believing in a nationally recognized xie jiao.” The officers forced all six into police cars and were taking them to the Dawa Public Security Bureau when one of the believers managed to get out of the vehicle.
At the Bureau, the police tortured Jiang for six days in an attempt to extort confessions, verbally and physically abusing her, but in the end, their interrogations were fruitless. Later, Ms. Jiang was sentenced to two years imprisonment without providing her any possibility for defense, and she was sent to the Shenyang prison.
Ms. Jiang believes that she was treated more harshly and cruelly than other inmates during her prison term because she was a Christian. Correctional officers assigned her extra-heavy work and would punish her severely if she couldn’t complete her tasks, they often incited other convicts to bully Jiang. The extreme amount of labor and heavy mental stress severely damaged Jiang’s physical and psychological health. This, combined with constant hunger (she was served only cold, hard steamed cornbread and a drop of thin vegetable soup every day) caused her to waste away to the point that, when she was released in October 29, 2017, not even her family could recognize her. Authorities kept a close watch over Ms. Jiang even when she returned home, making her life very difficult to bear.
That same day when Ms. Jiang was arrested, another Christian in his sixties from the church was also apprehended for evangelizing, and was later detained for 51 days, accused of “believing in a xie jiao.”
Source: direct reports from China.