Participants in Shandong Christian Youth Camp Detained and Beaten

Five Christians who organized a Christian youth camp were sentenced to 5 to 15 days administrative detention.
Participants in Shandong Christian Youth Camp Detained and Beaten
7/25/2009
Updated:
7/25/2009

According to a Voice of America report, Tengzhou City Public Security Bureau sentenced five Christians who had organized a Christian youth camp to 5 to 15 days administrative detention. Three students including Gong Cunling, Wang Siping, and Shao Yuji, age 16, served five days of administrative detention and have been released. The two Christian teachers Qiu Jiacun and Wang Changyin were respectively sentenced to 10 days and 15 days of administration detention and are still being held.  

On July 13, Tengzhou City Public Security Bureau arrested all the participants in a Christian youth camp. Police threatened and beat the youth. Thereafter, the local authorities intensified persecution of churches and severely punished the five organizers of the camp by sentencing them to 5 to 15 days administrative detention. The detained were given neither food nor water all day long and were in a state of dehydration. The Christians requested the return of confiscated possessions, including a bible. In response to their request, the police said that most of the confiscated possessions would not be returned.   

Fu Xiqiu, chair of the US-based China Aid Association, has been in contact with the arrested Christians. He told Voice of America about China’s excuse for the Christian youth camp raid.

“They justified the raid by labeling the camp as an unlawful religious activity. A ridiculous reason was that the police found a bible, which was classified as criminal evidence,” he said.

Read the original Chinese article.