Possible clemency granted to Zhejiang pastor and wife
Information uncovered by Dui Hua indicates that Pastor Bao Guohua (包国华) and his wife Xing Wenxiang (邢文香) might have been granted sentence reductions.
The couple are clergy of the Jinhua Chengqu Christian Church (金华城区基督教会). Alongside ten other members, they were accused of committing multiple financial crimes including illegal business operation, embezzlement, and concealment of accounting vouchers during a 2015 city-wide financial audit of religious venues. The police also accused the couple of gathering a crowd to disturb social order.
The couple has practiced Falun Gong since the 1990s. Yu had been responsible for coordinating and training Jiangmen practitioners. The couple were accused of disseminating and stamping banknotes with “cult” messages. The police also found large quantities of Falun Gong publications and digital materials at their home.
Critics believe the charges are trumped-up. They think the couple and other church members were targeted for refusing to comply with the government’s order to remove rooftop crosses from the churches. Church members had also gathered to protest the forced demolition.
Between 2014 and 2016, the Zhejiang government removed crosses from an estimated 1,200-1,700 churches in the province, according to a 2016 report by New York Times.
Bao and Xing were convicted of all four crimes on February 25, 2016, by the Wucheng District People’s Court and sentenced to 14 years and 12 years of imprisonment, respectively. The other ten members, including Bao and Xing’s son, Bao Chenxing, received suspended sentences.
Bao is serving his sentence at Qiaosi Prison while Xing is serving her sentence at the Zhejiang Women’s Prison. Little has been heard about them following their imprisonment.
Dui Hua found that the Qiaosi Prison submitted a request for a seven-month sentence reduction for Bao in November 2019 and another request for a six-month reduction in March 2024. Dui Hua also found that in October 2023, the Zhejiang Women’s Prison submitted a request for seven months reduction for Xing.
At the time of writing, Dui Hua has not determined whether the sentence reduction requests have been approved.
American pastor released after 18 years of imprisonment
Pastor David Lin (林大卫) was released from Beijing Number Two Prison on September 15, 2024. Lin is a US citizen and was on the priority list of three US citizens considered by the US Department of State to be wrongfully detained.
Pastor Lin has safely returned to the States. For details, please read Dui Hua’s press statement.
Activists appeal concluded in Guangdong without trial, says lawyer
Lawyer Xu Kai posted an emergency appeal on his social media account on September 13, saying he had just learned that The Guangdong High Court had already issued the judgment on Huang Xueqin (黄雪琴) and Wang Jianbing’s appeal on the 10th without a trial. The judgment affirmed the convictions and sentences. A copy of the judgment was sent to Huang on the 12th.
Xu says he had just submitted new evidence, testimonies, and a list of new witnesses to the High Court the week before. He had requested a hearing to be held on Huang’s appeal in accordance with the law. Xu also says he was misled during a phone call on the afternoon of the 12th. The presiding judge of the case, while acknowledging the receipt of the new evidence, did not notify Xu that the judgment had already been issued.
Huang, an activist for women’s rights, was tried together with labor activist Wang Jianbing (王建兵) for inciting subversion by the Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court in a closed trial on June 14, 2024. Huang was sentenced to five years and declared that she would appeal.
For cases considered to be politically sensitive, other than conducting a closed-door trial, courts in China sometimes conclude the appeal trial by means of “document review 书面审理”.
Qingdao lawyer’s license suspended for calling for the abolition of PQPT
In July, the Qingdao Justice Bureau issued administrative penalty decisions to suspend the practice license of lawyer Yu Kai (余凯) for one year and the operation of his law firm for six months.
Yu is one of five lawyers who submitted an opinion to the Legal Affairs Standing Commission of the National People’s Congress calling for the abolition of the crime of picking quarrel and provoking trouble (PQPT).
PQPT has been called a “pocket crime” (口袋罪) used by Chinese authorities against human rights activists and dissidents for a wide range of behavior, from minor social disturbances to posting provocative online messages.
Rights lawyer and wife tried for Subversion
Rights lawyer Yu Wensheng (余文生) and his wife Xu Yan (许燕) are standing trial for inciting subversion, a crime of Endangering State Security (ESS).
Yu and Xu were detained in April 2023, while they were en route to an event hosted by the European Union (EU) Mission in Beijing. The couple were initially detained for PQPT, but the procuratorate added the crime of inciting subversion when they were formally arrested in May 2023. The case was then transferred to Suzhou in February 2024.
The trial, held by the Suzhou Intermediate People’s Court on August 28, was closed to the public. Representatives from the EU Mission were blocked from attending the hearing.
Yu completed his last imprisonment in March 2022. He was convicted and sentenced to four years for inciting subversion in June 2020 by the Xuzhou Intermediate People’s Court.
More updates in Prisoner Updates 2024 #7 Part II