(Shunde, Guangdong Province – August 13, 2024) According to reports, the trial of five Christians from Shengjia Church in Shunde – Deng Yanxiang, Wang Weicai, Zhu Longjiang, Zhu Qiaoling, and Zhu Longfei – charged with “illegal business operations” is scheduled to take place from August 5 to 9, 2024.
Shengjia Church is a house church that has not joined the government-sanctioned Three-Self Church. On May 24, 2023, the church was raided by multiple departments including Shunde public security bureau, religious affairs bureau, department of education, and department of industry and commerce. Pastor Deng Yanxiang, Deacon Zhu Longjiang, Deacon Wang Weicai, and Zhu Qiaoling were arrested by Shunde police on suspicion of illegal business operations. Two bible study venues were also raided by over a hundred staff members, with a large number of books, tables, and chairs being confiscated that day. On August 9 of the same year, Elder Zhu Longfei was summoned by Shunde police and arrested on suspicion of illegal business operations.
Reportedly, the so-called illegal business operations actually refers to the church printing some Bible study materials for internal use, without any profit-making activities. Zhu Longfei, Zhu Longjiang, and Zhu Qiaoling are three siblings, all serving in the church. On March 15 this year, their 79-year-old mother passed away due to illness. All three siblings were in detention, unable to say a final goodbye to their mother in the hospital before her death or attend her funeral, leaving them with lifelong regret.
The church has suffered great persecution, causing immense pain to church members and their families. After the arrest of the five Christians, their families and several church members have publicly appealed on their behalf, stating that they are all kind and upright Christians who not only have not committed any crimes but are valuable members of their families, church, and society. They request the prompt release of the five Christians and the restoration of their innocence. Shengjia Church has also repeatedly publicly stated that these five law-abiding Christians who love God and people have not engaged in any illegal business operations, and that this is exploitation and oppression by law enforcement under the guise of illegal business operations.
On November 30, 2023, Elder Zhu Longfei’s case was combined with the previously detained Pastor Deng Yanxiang, Deacon Zhu Longjiang, Deacon Wang Weicai, and Zhu Qiaoling’s illegal business operation case. The Shunde District Procuratorate filed a public prosecution with the Shunde District People’s Court. The devotional materials (“Daily Bible Reading and Interpretation”) printed for internal use by the church were labeled as “illegal business operations” and characterized as “printing and distributing illegal publications that seriously endanger social order and disrupt market order, with particularly serious circumstances.”
A pre-trial conference for the case was held on March 29, 2024. During the conference, the five Christians charged with “illegal business operations” – Zhu Longjiang, Zhu Longfei, Deng Yanxiang, Wang Weicai, and Zhu Qiaoling – all stated that their previous confessions were obtained under varying degrees of inducement or threats. Zhu Longfei was threatened with the arrest of his wife; Deng Yanxiang was threatened with the auction of his property; Wang Weicai and Zhu Longjiang stated they were induced, with their true meaning that church decisions were not made by one person being recorded as all co-workers deciding to print books; Zhu Qiaoling cried in court, saying she was threatened with a heavy sentence. She said she had done nothing wrong and was unable to be with her mother when she passed away, and is particularly worried about her 94-year-old father who has a level-one disability.
The lawyer representing this case, Mr. Guo, has previously stated that the charge of “illegal business operations” against the defendants is completely unfounded, as “illegal business operations” must involve business activities, and the basic premise of business activities is profit-making. However, the five Christians from Shengjia Church are accused of actions that precisely did not involve any profit. Mr. Guo said, “In the pre-trial conference, ‘illegal business operations’ has apparently become a catch-all crime, and the lawyers’ goal is to tear apart this catch-all.”
