01/02/2016 12:22
Beijing, 1 feb (EFE).- Chinese authorities have detained one of the most influential Protestant pastors in the country, Gu Yuese, after openly criticizing the Government's program to demolish church crosses, a decision that sparked protests in eastern China.
Gu investigated for misappropriation of funds, as explained in a statement from the Hangzhou City Christian Council, collected today by the Sohu news portal.
"Estamos muy sorprendidos y con mucho pesar", it is said in the text, which does not provide more details about the pastor, president of the Christian Council of Zhejiang Province, the center of Christianity in China since the arrival of missionaries in the 19th century.
Gu, also known as Joseph Gu, He has been for more than ten years the pastor of the largest evangelical Protestant congregation in the country, Hangzhou City Chongyi Church (Zhejiang), which is estimated to bring together 10.000 personas.
It was in this same region where protests were experienced last year when the Executive began to demolish the crosses of the churches in the city of Wenzhou., conocida como el "Jerusalén de China" for its numerous temples.
El Gobierno argumentó entonces que su objetivo era "embellecer" the city, although his campaign was highly criticized, no sólo por las iglesias "clandestinas", in communion with Rome and persecuted by Beijing, but by those belonging to the official Catholic Patriotic Church of China, whose bishops are appointed by the Government.
Among the critics, was Gu, whose church is controlled by the regime.
In the middle of the dispute, The pastor wrote an open letter opposing Beijing's decision, por lo que su detención es vista ahora como una "revancha política por su falta de lealtad" to the ruling Communist Party.
"Con su concienzudo acto, pleasantly received by the Chinese and international Christian community, el pastor Gu cruzó la línea roja para los líderes chinos", explains Efe via email Bob Fu, who heads the China Aid organization, that from the US coordinates a wide network of activists, clandestine Christians and defenders of freedoms in China.
With his arrest, according to Fu, el régimen chino pretende mandar un "aviso a navegantes" para asegurarse de que no vuelve a haber "voces disidentes" among Christian leaders.
Fu recuerda que el arresto de Gu se produce en un momento de intensa represión contra la sociedad civil china y explica que las autoridades mantienen al pastor "bajo arresto domiciliario en una ubicación sin especificar", a form of detention also used with human rights lawyers persecuted by Beijing this last year.
"Es un hecho que muestra el peligro que corren aquellos que están dispuestos a defender la libertad de religión en China e incluso la de expresión", William Nee, for his part, considers, of Amnesty International in China.
In statements to Efe, Nee points to the absurdity of the situation: "Los pastores cristianos (in china) They can be fired for trying to defend the cross, el símbolo de su fe".
According to data from China Aid, just last week, 13 crosses were removed and destroyed in China, y desde que comenzara el supuesto programa de "embellecimiento" of the Government, They are already 1.800 churches that have seen their insignia disappear. EFE
