that made world headlines and raised international concerns over the perceived crackdown on religious freedom in the communist-run nation, human rights investigators said Friday, December 15.
US-based religious rights group China Aid Association, which has close contacts with the Christians, told BosNewsLife that the Xhaosha Intermediate People’s 10th Court in the provincial capital Hangzhou has scheduled a trial on December 22 against two Chinese women, identified as Shen Chengyi and Shen Zhuke, and six Christian men named as Wang Weiliang, Feng Guangliang, Ni Weimin, Guo Lijun, Shen Jianjian and Luo Bingliang.
Six of the eight Christians are currently detained, while Shen Jianjian and Luo Baoliang are out on bail pending trial, CAA said. CAA said it has also learned that the Christian journalist Zan Aizong has filed a lawsuit against the Internet Supervising Division of the Hangzhou Public Security Bureau which placed him in custody for seven days on charges of "spreading rumors harmful to society", after he reported about the destruction of the church in Xiaoshan, a booming satellite city of Hangzhou.
Zan, who recently became a Christian, was also fired from the Chinese Ocean Newspaper apparently because he criticized the destruction of the church, over four months ago. Initially dozens of Christians were arrested in July when police clashed with about 3,000 Christians who tried to prevent the demolition of their nearly completed church building in Xiaoshan, CAA and other sources said.
MORE DESTRUCTION
CAA also expressed concerns about reports of similar events elsewhere in China.
In one of the latest cases, it said, a house church in the Changqiao area of Shanghai was "attacked" by local police. "A brother named Wang Mingwei was taken to the police station, along with some church belongings. CAA is investigating the event and trying to acquire more details."
There has been concern among communist authorities about the spread of Christianity in China. Most of China’s estimated 80 million Christians worship outside the government-backed denominations in ‘house churches’ named this way as believers often gather in Christian homes as they often do not receive permissions for buildings.
Chinese authorities have denied human rights abuses saying Christians are free to worship in the government churches. (With reports from China).
