Man indicted for bringing Bibles to China

Associated Press

HONG KONG — A Chinese court has indicted a Hong Kong businessman who allegedly brought thousands of Bibles to an underground Christian group in China, a human rights organization said Saturday.

The court in the southeastern city of Fuqing said Li Guangqiang, 38, had "used a cult to undermine the enforcement of the law," the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said. Li could face the death penalty, it said.

Li was accused of taking 33,080 Bibles to the Shouters Sect in two trips in April and May 2001. Two members of the Christian group, Yu Zhudi and Lin Xifu, who made the request for the Bibles, also were indicted, the rights group said.

Phone calls to the Fuqing city prosecutor went unanswered Saturday. Calls to the city’s court and detention center also were not answered.

The Shouters Sect was banned in 1995 as an "aberrant religious organization," according to the human rights group Amnesty International. The sect’s charismatic style of worship includes shouting out prayers.

Chinese Christian churches outside the state-controlled nondenominational church are seen as challenging the Communist Party’s political monopoly and often face prosecution. The rights group estimated that at least 16 Christian organizations are banned.

In December, a Chinese court sentenced to death Gong Shengliang, leader of the banned Christian group South China Church, on a cult charge.

Copyright ©2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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