Beijing, protestant minister sentenced for illegally printing Bibles
Sentenced his wife and her brother too to prison terms of up to three years for "illegal business practices". Defence attorney: "The court should not be used to oppress religion and religious freedoms, but the authorities are always using economics as a pretext to deal with religious and political issues".
Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) - A Chinese court on Tuesday sentenced a Protestant minister, Cai Zhuohua, his wife and her brother to prison terms of up to three years for illegally printing Bibles and other Christian publications, one of their lawyers said.
Cai was sentenced to three years in prison, his 33-year-old wife, Xiao Yunfei, was given a two-year prison sentence and her brother, Xiao Gaowen, 37, an 18-month term, attorney Zhang Xingshui said.
A fourth defendant, Hu Jinyun, Xiao Gaowen's wife, was exempted from criminal punishment on charges of "secretly storing illegal goods" because she made contributions by informing against her sister-in-law, the lawyer quoted the verdict as saying.
They were expected to appeal and have 10 days to do so.
Rev Cai Zhuohua was taken into custody in central Beijing in September 2004 by three plainclothes policemen who tied his hands and feet and took him away him in a van. His wife Xiao Yunfei was arrested on the 27th of the same month when she was with her brother Xiao Gaowen and sister-in-law Hu Jinyun. Reverend Cai's relatives had sought refuge in Hunan province but agents from Beijing were able to track them down and arrest them.
Defence attorney Gao Zhisheng revealed that the four, who have been in prison for the past thirteen months, are accused of "illegal business practices" because of the large number of Bibles and Christian religious books found in their church.
"The books in no way were going to enter the market, they were to be given away free of charge to the church members. Trade transactions, whether legal or illegal, are not a question here," Gao said. "The court should not be used to oppress religion and religious freedoms, but the authorities are always using economics as a pretext to deal with religious and political issues," he added. "This happens far too much in China, where the court is being used as a tool."
In China only the the State Bureau of Religious Affairs has the right to publish the Bible, generally in small numbers that cannot be sold in bookstores.
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17/11/2016 14:03
