Five Christians Falsely Accused and Denied Appeals in China

In northwestern China, five Christians were denied court appeals resulting in lengthy prison sentences for each of them, ranging from 3 to 5 years. The Chinese court rejected the appeals of Zheng Lan, Cheng Yajie, Wang Lulu, Liu Yan, and Yang Zhaocun. These Christians were charged and imprisoned for “gathering a crowd to disturb public order,” on June 27th.  According to the government, the individual appeals did not coincide with the “facts” of each case, which falsely imprisoned these Christians.

07/10/2017 China (China Aid) – A court in China’s northwestern Xinjiang denied the appeals of five Christians, condemning them to lengthy prison sentences.

A Chinese court rejected the appeals of Zheng Lan, Cheng Yajie, Wang Lulu, Liu Yan, and Yang Zhaocun, Christians facing 3-5 year sentences for “gathering a crowd to disturb public order,” on June 27. According to the verdict, more than 50 people participated in activities China termed “illegal,” including studying the Bible, at Zheng’s home on March 5, 2016. Wang and Cheng said they planned the gathering, and Zheng said she had been providing accommodation to personnel from a Christian organization since 2011, allowing them to study, preach, and interpret religious texts in large-scale gatherings. After being held in custody for more than a year, the five were sentenced on April 18.

The defendants’ lawyers used the appeals to request that the court acquit their clients, but they were refused.

In its verdict, the court claimed the appeals’ arguments did not match the case’s so-called facts, which falsely accused the Christians of their crime, but failed to elaborate on how the gathering had disturbed public order, making their arrests completely arbitrary. In private, the judge disclosed that Xinjiang’s politics and law committee issued a document prohibiting house churches and ordering the punishment of all those who attended them. The document has not yet been made public.

Source : http://www.chinaaid.org/2017/07/failed-appeals-leave-five-christians.html

Colossians 4 vs 3: “At the same time pray for us as well that God will open to us a door for the word, that we may declare the mystery of Christ, for which I am in prison”