CHINA: Yang Rongli, church leader spends third year in jail after the violent destruction of her church 05/04/2012
Security officials tried to use pastor as a bargaining chip
The group was arrested on 23 September to prevent them making the complaint about the attack on Fushan Church in Linfen City. The Public Security Bureau (PSB) offered to release ten church leaders but retain Yang Rongli. The church leaders refused to leave without her, and as a result a further ten were arrested.
Pastor’s trial was brief and unlawful
The cases of Yang Rongli and the other leaders were rushed to trial, and they were sentenced on 25 November 2009. Yang Rongli received the harshest sentence since that given to Pastor Zhang Rongliang in 2004. She was charged with "illegally occupying farmland" and "disturbing transportation order by gathering masses".
However, sources indicate that the decision to sentence the group may have been taken in advance. Yang Rongli’s seven-year sentence was given by the PSB, in an arbitrary administrative step that circumvents the court and prosecution systems. In 2010, an appeal was rejected by the Linfen courts and she has now been in jail for over two years.
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CSW recommends that the international community raise Yang Rongli’s case with the Chinese authorities, reminding them of their obligations to respect human rights under international law and under the Chinese constitution. She is one of many Chinese religious leaders, lawyers and political activists who have come into conflict with the authorities for taking action against injustice.
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