Anonymous
10-13-2002, 09:17 PM
China Sect Leader Sentenced to Life
BEIJING (AP) - Chinese prosecutors quickly changed tack after an appeals court threw out the convictions and death sentences of five leaders of a banned Christian sect who were found guilty of running an "evil cult" aimed at the downfall of the state.
At a retrial, the authorities charged them with rape and assault, more familiar crimes that are better grounded in the legal system. Observers say it is an increasingly favored tactic for dealing with those perceived as troublemakers by China's communist government.
On Thursday, Gong Shengliang, leader of the South China Church sect, was sentenced to life in prison for rape and battery in a second trial at the Jingmen Intermediate Court, according to the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy, based in Hong Kong.
Two other sect leaders were sentenced to life for battery, and two others were given 15-year sentences on the same charges.
***The new trial for Gong and the four others — co-defendants Li Ying, Xiu Fuming, Hu Yong and Gong Bangkun — began Wednesday, said a Beijing-based activist, Japheth Shaw.
Shaw said the lawyer for the group had been given no advance notice of the charges being brought or the evidence to be presented.
For the second trial, the cult charges were dropped, the center said. However, additional charges of rape and battery that were part of the first trial were refiled, and prosecutors again won a conviction on those accusations.
According to documents filed at the first trial, Gong was accused of raping several female sect members and ordering the beatings of followers who feuded with the church leadership over doctrine and finances.
***Gong established the South China Church in 1991 and it grew over a decade to encompass some 50,000 members spread through 10 provinces in eastern and central China.
China labeled the church an "evil cult," part of an ongoing campaign against the outlawed Falun Gong (news - web sites) spiritual sect and other groups seen by the Communist Party's leadership as challenging its political monopoly.
Gong and his co-defendants were arrested by the Bureau of State Security in April 2001, and were convicted last December in a first trial.
***
Associated Press
October 10, 2002
http://iso.hrichina.org/iso/news_item.adp?news_id=998
BEIJING (AP) - Chinese prosecutors quickly changed tack after an appeals court threw out the convictions and death sentences of five leaders of a banned Christian sect who were found guilty of running an "evil cult" aimed at the downfall of the state.
At a retrial, the authorities charged them with rape and assault, more familiar crimes that are better grounded in the legal system. Observers say it is an increasingly favored tactic for dealing with those perceived as troublemakers by China's communist government.
On Thursday, Gong Shengliang, leader of the South China Church sect, was sentenced to life in prison for rape and battery in a second trial at the Jingmen Intermediate Court, according to the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy, based in Hong Kong.
Two other sect leaders were sentenced to life for battery, and two others were given 15-year sentences on the same charges.
***The new trial for Gong and the four others — co-defendants Li Ying, Xiu Fuming, Hu Yong and Gong Bangkun — began Wednesday, said a Beijing-based activist, Japheth Shaw.
Shaw said the lawyer for the group had been given no advance notice of the charges being brought or the evidence to be presented.
For the second trial, the cult charges were dropped, the center said. However, additional charges of rape and battery that were part of the first trial were refiled, and prosecutors again won a conviction on those accusations.
According to documents filed at the first trial, Gong was accused of raping several female sect members and ordering the beatings of followers who feuded with the church leadership over doctrine and finances.
***Gong established the South China Church in 1991 and it grew over a decade to encompass some 50,000 members spread through 10 provinces in eastern and central China.
China labeled the church an "evil cult," part of an ongoing campaign against the outlawed Falun Gong (news - web sites) spiritual sect and other groups seen by the Communist Party's leadership as challenging its political monopoly.
Gong and his co-defendants were arrested by the Bureau of State Security in April 2001, and were convicted last December in a first trial.
***
Associated Press
October 10, 2002
http://iso.hrichina.org/iso/news_item.adp?news_id=998