Zion Church member writes of nine-day lockup, no legal notice

Chinese Communist Party authorities have held Sun Xue, a member of the unregistered Zion Church, for nine days without issuing a legal detention notice, according to a translated letter from his wife Shi Lin. They arrested Sun on Oct. 13 around 1 a.m. after forcing their way into his house without the equivalent of a warrant, his wife wrote on Wednesday.

Female officers also subjected Shi to a strip search during her husband’s arrest, she wrote. Authorities refused to give her or her mother-in-law a formal notice of Sun’s detention, although they did issue such notices for 22 other church members who were also arrested, she said.

The other arrested Zion Church members include pastor Ezra Jin Mingri and other pastors, staff, and congregants, according to advocacy group Human Rights in China. The Beijing-based church also has satellite groups in other cities and has faced raids in the past.

Dig deeper: Read my prior report on the recent Zion Church arrests.