(Hefei, Anhui Province – August 19, 2024) On July 31, 2023, at 9 AM, the first pre-trial conference for Pastor Zhou Songlin and Elder Ding Zhongfu of Hefei Ganquan Church, accused of “suspected fraud,” was held at the Hefei Shushan District People’s Court. During the conference, defense lawyers pointed out that the prosecutor had not fulfilled their duties, leading to numerous issues in the indictment. The lawyers enumerated these issues, leaving the prosecutor speechless. The meeting was prematurely adjourned, with no set date for the next pre-trial conference. That morning, over 20 Christians spontaneously gathered at the court. Although they couldn’t meet the two pastors face-to-face, they could see the pre-trial proceedings on a small screen outside the courtroom. When the police vehicles transporting the two pastors entered and exited, the pastors could see their wives and church members waiting outside the court.
This pre-trial conference took place exactly eight months after Pastor Zhou Songlin and Elder Ding Zhongfu were arrested on November 30, 2023. During these eight months, the two pastors, both nearing their sixties, were confined within high walls, never leaving the detention center. These eight months also marked a sudden separation for their devoted wives, unable to see their husbands.
That morning, Pastor Zhou Songlin’s wife Wei Shudie and Elder Ding Zhongfu’s wife Ge Yunxia arrived at the Hefei Shushan District People’s Court before 8:30, hoping to catch a glimpse of their husbands in the police vehicles transporting them from the detention center to the court, or that the judge might show compassion and allow them to meet their husbands. Over 20 church members gradually arrived at the scene, eager to see their two pastors who had been suffering for the Lord for eight months. Around 9 AM, everyone stood where the vehicles would pass, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the police cars carrying the pastors. However, when two cars passed by, they couldn’t see the pastors inside.
Everyone recalled that the Hefei Shushan District People’s Court was relatively humane, allowing them to enter the court lobby by scanning their ID cards, where there were chairs to sit on. Additionally, there was a CCTV screen on the wall outside the courtroom, and although they couldn’t hear the audio, they could see the layout and people inside. Through the screen at the courtroom entrance, the pastors’ wives and church members saw the two pastors sitting in the “defendant” seats, with court police sitting behind them. The staff maintaining order specially brought over a dozen plastic stools for them to sit on, which everyone found touching and praised the staff for.
Around 10:40, the pre-trial conference was interrupted because the lawyers pointed out numerous procedural violations in the prosecution’s indictment stage, rendering the indictment insufficient for the court to accept the case. They suggested that the prosecutor first address the legality of the indictment review before reconvening the pre-trial conference. Thus, the day’s pre-trial conference ended before it officially began. After the prosecution left, the pastors’ wives and church members rushed to where the police vehicles would exit. Ge Yunxia, Elder Ding’s wife, finally saw Elder Ding through the glass door. After eight months without seeing him, she couldn’t help but shed tears.
As the rolling shutter door slowly opened, four uniformed individuals lined up and exited first, followed by the police vehicles slowly driving out. The church members watched the vehicles leave as if watching “celebrities.” Someone in the crowd said, “Drive slowly.” The police car, having just started and on a downhill slope, was indeed not moving fast. Everyone tried to look into the vehicle from different angles, waving vigorously and running alongside, just to let the two pastors in the police car see them. As the car turned at a corner, someone excitedly said, “Elder Ding waved at me!” With the sound of police sirens, the vehicles gradually disappeared, and everyone ran a short distance until the police cars vanished from sight.
Ge Yunxia, Elder Ding Zhongfu’s wife, recalled that this scene reminded her of an alternative “fan meeting.” She said, “Even though this world lists the envoys of the kingdom of heaven as ‘criminals,’ in God’s eyes, they are the ‘princes’ of the heavenly king.”
On the day before the trial, Pastor Zhou Songlin wrote a “prison pastoral letter” to the church members, declaring his innocence and encouraging everyone to stand firm in their faith. He said, “As the case enters the court, if I am found guilty, it’s only because I practiced my faith according to the teachings of the Bible. If I am found guilty, then everyone in the church is guilty; this would be a collective crime!”