Guangzhou House Church Pastor Wang Dao's Case Against Persecution Accepted by Court
Contact: Katherine Cason, 267-210-8278, Katherine@ChinaAid.org; Washington, D.C.: Jenny McCloy, 202-213-0506, Jenny@ChinaAid.org; both with China Aid Association www.ChinaAid.org, www.MonitorChina.org
GUANGDONG, Dec. 31 /Christian Newswire/ -- On December 25, 2008, Haizhu District People's Court accepted the filing of Pastor Wang Dao's lawsuit against the State Administration of Religious Affairs Bureau (SARA) in Guangzhou city, Guangdong province for raiding Liangren Church. This is an unprecedented move by the court to accept an administrative lawsuit filed by a house church pastor challenging the penalty decision by SARA.
On the morning of December 14, 2008, Liangren Church was raided by more than 50 officials from SARA and the Public Security Bureau (PSB) during a Sunday service. Authorities issued a "Notice of Administrative Penalty" charging Pastor Wang Dao with organizing an illegal gathering. Officials demanded that the household gatherings be stopped.
On December 18, Pastor Wang filed an administrative lawsuit against SARA, in Guangdong province, requesting the court to demand SARA to withdraw its Notice of Administrative Penalty. The court accepted the filing and on December 25, the court sent a "Notification of Acceptance of Administrative Case" to Pastor Wang. ChinaAid, as well as house church Christians across China, are watching to see how the court will respond in this case which could set a precedent for other cases of persecution.
Links:
Read SARA's "Decision Statement of Administrative Penalty" against Pastor Wang Dao.
Read Haizhu District People's Court of Guangzhou's "Notification of Acceptance of Administrative Case."
Read the List of Submitted Pieces of Evidence (Plaintiff)
Read the Notification of Administrative Penalty sent to Pastor Wang Dao.
Read Liangren House Church's public statement on December 18.
