Pastor Shi Enhao, the deputy chairman of the Chinese House Church Alliance, has been sentenced to a two-year stay in a Chinese labor camp under the accusation of holding “illegal meetings and illegal organizing of venues for religious meetings.”
The punishment is one that is “extra-judicial” and didn't require police to wait for a trial or criminal conviction before they implemented it, according to China Aid Association. Pastor Shi, 55, was detained by Suqian City police, in the Jiangsu province, for 12 days beginning May 31. He was criminally detained by the Suqian Public Security Bureau on June 21, which CAA says is the “first step in a legal process that almost inevitably leads to a prison sentence.”
Bob Fu, the President of China Aid, spoke to The Christian Post about Shi's sentence.
“It's kind of anticipated persecution, but not to the degree that he was treated,” said Fu.
"His lawyer was denied access to visit him, so these are totally violations of Chinese law,” he said. “So in that sense it's a surprise to me, but in terms of the persecution they are facing...it's just intensified recently. I think he's a part of the target by the Chinese central government to take down because of his leadership role in the Chinese house-church movement."
China allows freedom of religious belief and protects religious activities to a certain extent, being that religious groups are required to register with the government and operate under official religious bodies, such as the Three-Self Patriotic Movement and the China Christian Council.
Unregistered, or house, churches are not outlawed but are not permitted to openly hold religious services.
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