NEWS//Early Rain Church
UPDATE December 30, 2019: Pastor sentenced to 9 years in prison.
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A year ago, beginning on December 9, 2018, members of the Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, Sichuan China were arrested and detained. More than 200 members were eventually arrested.
This blog reported on Early Rain's legal problems a year ago. Below is an update on the situation.
June 2019: The wife of the congregation’s head pastor, Jiang Rong, was arrested and detained last December along with her husband. She was freed on bail in June. She, along with her husband's parents, is under close surveillance by state security police. As of November, about half of the church's original membership remains under close police surveillance.
August 2019: After serving eight months in prison, the Chinese government has released Li Yingqiang, an elder of the Early Rain Church. He is free on bail but must report regularly to the local police station.
October 1, 2019: The U.N.'s Human Rights Council reported that thirteen members of the church were still being detained. In addition, about twelve individuals were in administrative detention and eleven were released on bail after a period of detention. These church members face criminal charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” “illegal business activity” and “illegal publishing,” as well as “inciting subversion of state power.”
October 22, 2019: Gou Zhongcan, a church member, was released from jail. The charges against him were "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble." He was held for several months in a "legal study center." An acquaintance of Gou's said Gou had been held for the duration of his incarceration in a basement, where he was deprived of access to sunlight.
November 29, 2019: Qin Defu, an elder at Early Rain, was sentenced to four years in prison for "illegal business operations." The charged stemmed from his hand in publishing 20,000 Christian books and pamphlets that were used by the 5,000-member church. The sentence comes even though authorities guaranteed if he accepted a state-appointed attorney, he would be released.
December 2, 2019: Wang Yi, the head pastor at Early Rain, remains continues to incarcerated at an undisclosed location. He has yet to be put on trial. He is charged with "inciting to subvert state power." In November, Wang's attorney was denied the right to represent him because of some of the attorney’s online posts that were critical of the government.
Sources: Radio Free Asia, China Partnership, Christian Broadcasting Network, New York Times, Christian News, Christian Post, World Magazine