Three years prison for a protestant Christian: he printed and distributed bibles for free
Beijing (AsiaNews/Chinaaid.org) – The Beijing Court has found Shi Weihan, age 38, guilty of “illegal business operations” and sentenced him to three years in prison and 150,000 Yuan fine (about 15 thousand euro) for printing and distributing Bibles for free. The sentenced was handed don on June 10th. Shi is both a Christian bookstore owner and pastor of a house church, not recognized by the government. Another two Christians were condemned together with him, partners in the publishing firm that prints the bibles.
The defence pointed out that the charges had no basis. “The defendant Shi Weihan - pointed out the lawyer for the defence - did not have a purpose of gaining illegal profits when he printed the Bible and other religious books”. On the contrary according to the defence “by spreading the Gospel of Christ, we can purify peoples’ souls, exalt peoples’ spiritual realms and promote behaviour conducive to social harmony and stable development”.
It is still unclear whether Shi Weihan will appeal. The defence had asked for his release, because he suffers from diabetes, but the court refused.
The publishing of bibles is controlled by the state administration for religious affairs. The sales of bibles are rigorously restricted to government recognised churches. Many protestant communities however helped by communities abroad, produce their own bibles or import them in their thousands into China as part of their missionary drive. Since 2007, a campaign against China’s underground protestant communities is being enacted. A sober estimate puts their numbers at over 50 million faithful. He campaign aims to absorb the communities into the Movement of the three autonomies, that heads the official and government recognised protestant communities, or else suppression (see. Secret party document wants to “normalise” Chinese Protestants).
.png)
23/06/2010
