A house church leader from Shanxi was arrested in July 2017 and imprisoned for six months; 70 members of the same church were questioned after his arrest.
According to an inside source, on July 31, 2017, officers from a local police station apprehended a house church leader Zhong Yan (pseudonym) and searched his home, finding religious texts and a name list of the members of the church. In the days that followed, the police launched a massive local round-up, arresting more than 70 members of the church and taking them to the local police station. This deeply disturbed and panicked local villagers and Christians.
According to statements from some of the captured Christians, after the police interrogated them, they forced them to stamp their fingerprints on documents and registered detailed information about each of them on file. Before their release, officers warned them that they were not allowed to believe in God anymore.
Church leader Zhong Yan was later sentenced to a year in prison on charges of “disturbing public order” and participating in “organized crime.” After members of the church raised 5,000 RMB for bribes, Zhong Yan’s sentence was reduced to six months and ended on January 31, 2018.
Direct Reports from China
Source: Bitter Winter