China pastor tortured to confess, told he would be fed to pigs by state prosecutors

Chiqui Guyjoco Thursday, June 16, 2016

A Chinese pastor detained by the communist state of China claimed that he was tortured to extort a confession and that state prosecutors threatened him to be fed to the pigs.

China Aid, a watchdog for Christian persecution in China, published Monday, June 13 an interview conducted on May 11 between a pastor at Houshi Church, Yang Hua, and human rights lawyer Chen Jiangang.

A modest white-washed house, from which the Texas-based religious and human rights group ChinaAid Association operates, is perched along a non-descript roadway, flanked by a carwash, firearms shop and day care center in Midland, Texas April 30, 2012. | REUTERS/CHRIS BALTIMORE

In his sworn testimony, Yang narrated two incidences where he was taken to a room bare of any furniture and tortured to confess. He claimed he was falsely accused of "illegally possessing state secrets." He identified the prosecutors who harassed him as Ke Jun, Zhang Wei, Zhao Yuanpeng, Tang Jing, and a person he was only able to identify with the surname Han.

Yang's first meeting with the prosecutors was on March 16. In the first instance, he said that prosecutor Ke ordered him to confess.

"[If you refuse to cooperate,] not only you, but your wife and your children will face problems," Yang quoted Ke as saying.

He added that Ke also said, "I'm a torture expert. I know how to beat you up without leaving a mark on your body for people to see. Doctors won't be able to diagnose you. Even you won't know what you died of."

Afterwards, Yang was forced to sign a transcript. He was taken out of the room and then re-entered for a videotaped cross-examination.

Yang narrated the second incident on April 15 where he was taken to the same room. His defense attorneys noted that this was the time when the case had already been brought to the prosecution stage, so Ke was no longer allowed by law to interrogate Yang.

However, Yang attested that Ke had threatened him with several ways of execution, including turning him into food for pigs.

Ke told him, "Do you know why the pigs on the pig farm behind this building are so fat? We can turn you into food for pigs, which is one way to die."

Yang also remembered Ke as saying, "Suing me won't work. I'm the boss here."

Yang was arrested in January after protecting a church-owned hard drive that authorities wanted to confiscate. Four other members of Houshi Church were arrested by authorities in the rise of state-backed church persecution.