ICC NOTE: Pastor Yang Hua was arrested on January 22 attempting to stop authorities from confiscating a hard drive from the Huoshi church. During his time in detention both he and his family were threatened by five government officials if he did not cooperate. This was not the only time pastor Hua has been targeted by officials while in detention as he was previously tortured in an attempt to force him to confess and submit to his alleged crime of “divulging state secrets”. His defense lawyers have filed a lawsuit with the proper authorities over the recent death threat on their client and his family. 

6/14/2016 Guizhou, China (China Aid) – Documents from a lawsuit filed against authorities in China’s central Guizhou province allege that officers tortured a detained house church pastor and threatened his life and family. The pastor’s two defense attorneys issued the lawsuit after their client testified on May 11 about the abusive treatment he has received in police custody.

Human rights lawyer Chen Jiangang released an exclusive interview between himself and Yang Hua(also known as his legal name, Li Guozhi), a pastor of Huoshi Church who was arrested on charges of “divulging state secrets” on Jan. 22 after he attempted to prevent authorities from confiscating a hard drive belonging to the church.

In the interview, Yang describes two incidents, occurring on March 16 and April 15, in which three and five prosecutors respectively threatened his life and family. These prosecutors include Ke Jun, Zhang Wei, Zhao Yuanpeng, Tang Jing, and a man surnamed Han.

According to Yang, Ke said on March 16, “You’d better confess. Your life is in my hands. I’m here to meet with you because I see you as an ally. If you refuse to cooperate, I’ll treat you as a spy, as someone on the opposing side. In that case, we won’t treat you this nicely. I can make you disappear from the face of the earth. I’m a powerful man. Not one of the policemen [at this detention center] would stand if I asked him to get on his knees. [If you refuse to cooperate,) not only you, but your wife and your children will face problems. I’m a torture expert. I know how to beat you up without leaving a mark on your body for people to see. Doctors won’t be able to diagnose you. Even you won’t know what you died of.”

During the interrogation, the officials produced a transcript of what had been said and forced Yang to sign it. Then, they took him out of the room, forced him to re-enter, and videotaped another cross-examination, this time using less menacing language.

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