sister Wang Yujie's testimony"We have arrested you in order to rescue you lest you are being imbued with rubbish by some foreigners. They speak very well but you will end up in a nest of robbers without knowing it"

China Aid Association
My name is Wang Yujie. I am female, Han Chinese, and 17 years old. I live in Shuanggouzhen Xiangfan city, in Hubei province. 
       On the morning of the 2nd of August 2005, I with other co-workers was cleaning our room on the third floor in Lutouzhen Zaoyang city. We were preparing to go down for a meeting. Because a person has informed the police secretly at around nine in the morning the house was surrounded. We immediately prepared our belongings in the event that we should be arrested and sent to prison. More police arrived all the time. The front and back doors were completely blocked off. Even some of the neighbors who came in to find out what was going on were apprehended and not allowed to go out. When I went down to the first floor, a plain clothes policeman wanted to search my bag. I asked him if he had a search warrant. Then another plain clothes policeman very rudely grabbed my bag and pulled out a bible. He said to the others, “Note down her particulars! She has one bible.” According to the tone of his voice, it seemed that they regarded the bible as criminal evidence.
       At around 10am they took the two teachers downstairs. They immediately took them away. We all felt very sad. We just said silent goodbyes. The dining room was full with plain clothes policemen. When they took the teachers to the front door they blocked our way. More than 10 plain clothes police surrounded us. After that they took the rest of us away one by one like criminals. Outside was another plain clothes policeman taking a video of us. Lots of people were looking on, pointing at us and discussing what was happening.
       We were taken to Lutouzhen Police Station, registered and questioned. The courtyard of the Police Station was filled with lots of commotion and noises of people being beaten. After midday we were divided into two groups and sent to Zaoyang No 2 Detention Centre. When we arrived the officers of Zaoyang Police separated us into groups and searched us. A female officer searched my clothes and belongings. She confiscated my money and said that it will be returned upon my release. I handed 94 yuan to her. She made an inventory and had me sign it. She then wrapped the 94 yuan in the inventory. Afterwards I heard the officers of the detention centre quietly telling one another what they have found. They stated to us that they will return our belongings. However, we were all rushed by the Zaoyang police to be robbed bear.
       At around 5 on the 2nd of August, I was taken to the disciplinary office. I was interrogated by an officer in his 50’s from Zaoyang Police Station. He asked me some basic questions. After I answered all the questions, I asked him why they arrested us. He said, “If you believe in Taoism or Buddhism we won’t concern ourselves with you. But since you believe in Christianity we need to make it our concern. Do you realize this? The South China Church is an evil religion. It was determined in 2000 that it was an evil religion. In 2001 all the main leaders of South China Church were arrested. The founder Gong Shengliang has been indefinitely sentenced, and is in prison at the moment. There are still a few small brigands left resisting the government. If you want to be a Christian you need to go to the official church. You cannot join to the South China Church. We have arrested you in order to rescue you lest you are being imbued with rubbish by some foreigners. They speak very well but you will end up in a nest of robbers without knowing it.” As he was speaking another person come in with a pile of files “Register of Suspects under Questioning.” He gave it to the interrogator for them to complete quickly. He also asked where the money I had came from. If I don’t tell them, then they will not acknowledge that they confiscated it. When he recognized that he will not found out anything, he let me sign and stamp my finger prints on the second page of my statement.
       On the morning of the 3rd of August, they called me out of my cell. They made me hold a small blackboard with my name and took photos (from the front and side). Then they took my finger and palm prints, saying that it was for their files. That afternoon they started to release some of us. But because they have written “evil religion” as part of our crime, we did not cooperate. We rather wanted to go back to our cells than sign our names to the charge. We insisted that the words be dropped, otherwise we will not leave. For the whole afternoon, outside of our cell there were cursing, beatings, and insults. When it was time for dinner, they released 26 of us. Sixteen were still held in custody.
       On the morning of the 4th of August a middle-aged male officer held a document “Register of Suspects under Questioning” (copy). He wanted us to sign it. The column with the charge was empty. The time indicated for our interrogation was from the 2nd of August 5pm to the 3rd of August 5pm. When we asked why they did not specify the charge, he said, “You don’t need to worry about this. You just need to write your names. When the time comes we will release you!” We asked for how long he will continue to question us. He said, “48 hours.” Then a sister said, “If you don’t write down the reason for our arrest, we will write it ourselves ‘because we believe in Jesus’.” As he went away, he angrily said, “That’s enough! You remain stubborn till the end!” He grabbed the document and furiously went out slamming the door. We did not sign the form to continue our interrogation, but they still continued with it, even using torture. After 5pm on the 4th, Lei Youxin interrogated me. He held up the statement I made before and questioned me, making some notes on it. He did not allow me to have a look or sign it. At the end he threatened me. If I am still going to give the same answers, next time he is not going to be polite anymore.
On the 9th of August after 4pm I was taken into the duty office. Lei Youxin was holding a pile of documents. He had me sign on one of the pages. He said that after seven days I could go home. I noticed the following words on one of the documents, “€¦joined an illegal meeting at Lutouzhen of the evil religious organization South China Church€¦” So I said, “I don’t believe in an evil religion!” Lei said, “I don’t care about your things! It is just that you were indeed caught with an evil religion.” I refused to sign. Then the director of Zaoyang Police Station, Zhang Xujin, punched me on my back, and said, “Quickly hurry up! Stop talking nonsense! You were present!” Qiu Yunfei of the Zaoyang Police hit me very hard on my back. He grabbed my hair and then hit me on the left side of my face.” He yelled, “Just sign your name here and then everything will be fine!” Lei Youxin said, “If you don’t acknowledge it to be an evil religion, just write it down here.” I then wrote the following words where he was pointing, “I don’t acknowledge that I believe in an evil religion.” Lei asked if I had any further statement or argument. I asked what he meant. Qiu Yunfei then lifted up his hand to hit me again. I said, “Why do you hit me? I don’t know what you want me to say?” Qiu then angrily said, “You just write: I don’t know what to say.” Lei again made me sign the document entitled “Register of Suspects under Questioning” (copy). The reason for being interrogated was, “disturbing the social order”. The time of my interrogation started on the 3rd of August, but the column indicating the time was empty. Lei Youxin said that I have been in custody for 15 days. I then wanted my arrest certificate. He said, “If you don’t acknowledge that it is an evil religion, I won’t give it to you.” On the afternoon of the 10th of August when the Detention Centre was taking my details for their files, I noticed that on my arrest certificate was written, “€¦used a secret society to disrupt the social order, detained for 15 days, from the 9th of August until the 23 of August.” Still until today I don’t know what they meant by a “secret society”.
On the morning of the 13th of August at around 8am, Qiu Yunfei called me to the duty office. Lei Youxin and Xiao Li (a female) made me sign the document entitled “Register of Suspects under Questioning” (copy). The reason for my questioning was “disrupting the social order”. The starting time indicated the 3rd of August at 5pm. But the column for the time when my questioning was to finish was empty. I was greatly puzzled, thinking that they wanted to transfer me. After I signed they made me wait at the front door. After a while Xiao Li and Qiu Yunfei came out. Xiao took out a leather envelope from her bag, being stuffed full, seven to eight names were written on the envelope. She took out 35 yuan from the envelope and gave it to me and Wen Rongrong. She said that it was money for transportation. Wen Rongrong then said that it was not enough. She gave us another 10 yuan and said, “If it is not enough, you figure something out.” I said, “Why don’t you return the money that you took from me?” Qiu Yunfei said, “You are still not leaving! Do you still want to go back in?” Sister Wang Xiao still didn’t go. The several thousand dollars they took from her just disappeared like this without a trace. They urged us out. Wen Rongrong and I then just left the Detention Centre.
                                                    Wang Yujie (in my own hand)
17th August 2005
Note: Li Li (code name: Wang Yujie). Main name: Li Tongjin. Female, Han Chinese, 30 years old. She lives in Shiyan city, in Hubei province. She became a Christian in 1989 and joined the ministry team of South China Church in 1998.