Newlyweds Zhang Chenghao and Guo Juan, members of Taiyuan Xuncheng Reformed Church (Photo: ChinaAid source)

(Taiyuan, Shanxi Province—December 17, 2021) Yesterday, Guo
Juan, wife of Zhang Chenghao, revealed that she went to the Xiaoyi Detention
Center with Zhang Chenghao’s lawyer and applied to meet with her husband per
the law. However, the detention center rejected their request.

 

After Zhang Chenghao’s lawyer submitted the legal paperwork for
the request to meet, the police in the detention center informed them that
Zhang Chenghao’s case involved national security and state secrets; the
relevant investigation unit issued a letter of refusal to the detention center.

 

The weather in Shanxi has entered into its coldest season. Zhang
Chenghao’s wife Guo Juan could only pass the clothes she had brought to the
staff through the window at the detention center in hopes that they would pass
it to Zhang Chenghao. Guo Juan and Zhang’s lawyer rushed to the Fenyang City
Public Security Bureau and were able to find Officer Deng, in charge of
handling the case. After the lawyer met with Officer Deng, Guo Juan went in
again and requested Officer Deng to return her cell phone and computer. Officer
Deng told her that it was not time yet, and would return them to her when the
time was up and asked Guo Juan to wait for their notice.

 

On the same day, Preacher An Yankui’s wife Yao Congya also went
to the detention center to deliver clothes for An. After Preacher An Yankui and
Zhang Chenghao were arrested, the police summoned many fellow church members
serving in ministry at the Taiyuan Xuncheng Reformed Church for questioning. It
could be an attempt to intimidate and collect evidence from convicting An
Yankui and Zhang Chenghao. This is a standard method the police in mainland
China use to suppress house churches.

 

After the Sunday worship on November 21, 2021, the Public
Security Bureau of Fenyang City, Shanxi Province, detained Preacher An Yankui
and church member Zhang Chenghao of Taiyuan Xuncheng Reformed Church on
suspicion of “illegally crossing the border.” They were detained in Fangshan
County Detention Center and Xiaoyi Detention Center, respectively. On November
24, An Yankui’s wife, Yao Congya, and Zhang Chenghao’s newlywed wife Guo Juan
received a detention notice issued by the Fenyang Public Security Bureau on the
22nd. The notice stated that An Yankui and Zhang Chenghao were suspected of
illegally crossing the national border and had been criminally detained.

 

~ Yu Bing, ChinaAid Special
Correspondent