4-5-2005 - UN Releases Formal Opinion on Church Historian's Arbitrary Detention

Midland, Texas (CAA)-Feb. 7, 2005

Tortured House Church Leader Testifies for the First Time;

UN Releases Formal Opinion on Church Historian's Arbitrary Detention

Thursday, February 10, 2005 at the National Press Club in Washington DC, a 34- year old

member of an underground house church in China will recount her experience of torture,

sexual abuse and arbitrary imprisonment by Chinese police.

Ms. Liu Xianzhi, a member of the South China Church, escaped from China last month after

serving six years in a labor camp making Christmas lights and rugs. In 2001, police arrested

Ms. Liu and tortured her into falsely testifying that the pastor of the South China Church,

Gong Shengliang, "raped" her.

Ms. Liu stated that her experience in prison continues to haunt her, "When I hear dogs barking,

loud knocking on the door, the sound of police sirens, or I see men who are not wearing shirts

(like my interrogators), I have an overwhelming sense of fear." She is one of 8903 members

of the South China Church who police have arrested for their religious beliefs, including

Pastor Gong, who is serving a life sentence in prison based on multiple confessions obtained

through torture.

The Honorable Senator Sam Brownback, along with other Congressional leaders, will express

their grave concern over religious persecution in China. Senator Brownback is Chairman of

the Helsinki Commission and serves on the Committee on Appropriations; the Committee on

Commerce, Science and Transportation; the Committee on Foreign Relations; and the Joint

Economic Committee.

Bob Fu, president of the China Aid Association and a former prisoner of religious conscience,

will also release a formal opinion by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary

Detention in the case of a leading historian of the underground church, Mr. Yinan Zhang.

Zhang was arrested September 26, 2003 and sentenced to two years of re-education through

labor October 27, 2003 by an administrative tribunal in Henan Province. The government

convicted him of attempting to subvert the national government" by misinterpreting

statements culled from his personal prayer journals and Christian essays.

For more information, please contact 432-689-6985

Address for Thursday’s Press Conference:

Murrow Room, National Press Club

529 14th Street NW

Washington, DC 20045