(Chengdu, Sichuan Province – June 12, 2024) For more than 35 years, the Chinese authorities have closely monitored any commemoration of the bloody and tragic June 4th, 1989 pro-democracy movement, dispersing or enforcing coercive punitive measures whenever detected.

Sources revealed that Fu Lijun, a member of the Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, was taken away by Chengdu State Security Police on the morning of June 4th. The reason was the messages he sent on his personal social media platform WeChat Moments in the early morning hours of June 4th. It included music in remembrance of June 4th and a prayer for the nation for June 4th. After he was taken away, his family had no news of him.

On June 6, his family received the news. The State Security Police had sent a text to his wife that Fu Lijun was detained for five days because of a WeChat Moment incident. The period of detention will end on June 10, 2024.

During the harsh 2018 crackdown, Fu Lijun was criminally detained at noon on December 15, 2018, along with nine other Christians who were also members of the Early Rain Covenant Church.

Founded in 2005, the pastor, elders, and members of the Early Rain Covenant Church refused to register the church under either the Religious Affairs Bureau or the Three-Self Patriotic Association. Churches in China must be affiliated with these two organizations in order to be officially recognized by the government, but this does not mean that they can therefore enjoy full freedom. Early Rain Covenant Church was officially banned on December 14, 2018, by local government authorities. Pastor Wang Yi was sentenced on December 30, 2019, to nine years in prison.