Authorities beat Christian couple

Liu, an attendee of Early Rain Covenant Church, showing injuries inflicted by public security authorities. (Photo: ChinaAid)

ChinaAid

(Chengdu, Sichuan—March 4, 2019) A Christian couple affiliated with a persecuted church in Chengdu, Sichuan, faced eviction after suffering beatings and torture at a local police station on Saturday.

At around 9:00 a.m. on March 2, the husband and wife, surnamed Liu and Xing, respectively, had just finished visiting members of Early Rain Covenant Church when they were taken to the local public security bureau office and beaten and tortured from 2:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m. When they were finally allowed to return to their apartment, they were informed that the public security bureau officials and property owners were evicting them.

Early Rain Covenant Church has been under intense official pressure over the past year, culminating in an overnight attack on Dec. 9 that left around 100 of the church’s members in police custody. By the end of the week, more than 150 of the attendees had been arrested, and some of them are still in custody and facing criminal charges, including Pastor Wang Yi and his wife, Jiang Rong.