Joint Statement by Family Members of the 18 Detained Pastors and Co-workers in the Beijing Zion Church “10·9” Case (March 23, 2026)

We are the family members of the 18 pastors and co-workers who remain detained in the Beijing Zion Church “10·9” case. For more than five months, our loved ones have been detained in the First and Second Detention Centers of Beihai City, Guangxi, on suspicion of the crime of “illegally using information networks,” and today marks the 165th day.

We are deeply distressed to see that the team of lawyers providing legal assistance to our loved ones is suffering extremely severe persecution: every lawyer is facing, to varying degrees, investigations, spot checks during annual inspections, interviews, warnings and disciplinary measures, and even threats and pressure to force them to suspend operations or have their lawyer’s licenses revoked. This systematic persecution targeting defense lawyers not only seriously violates the lawyers’ lawful professional rights, but is also an open trampling of our country’s Constitution and laws, and a direct destruction of judicial justice.

We strongly protest this despicable conduct! Lawyers providing a defense to clients in accordance with the law is the most basic protection of every citizen’s rights. To deprive lawyers of their professional qualifications is to deprive our loved ones of their last opportunity to receive a fair trial. This is not only cruel retaliation against individual lawyers, but also a wanton challenge to the bottom line of the entire rule of law. We demand:

1. Immediately cease all threats, interviews, warnings and persecution targeting the legal team;

2. Restore the professional qualifications of all lawyers who have been forced to suspend operations or had their licenses revoked;

3. Guarantee that the lawyers can perform their duties normally and provide legal assistance to our loved ones without any outside interference.

We call on all sectors of society, members of the legal profession, and everyone concerned about justice to continue following this case, join us in speaking out, and stop this illegal persecution of lawyers. We firmly believe that although justice may be delayed, it will never be absent.

May justice be revealed soon, and may our loved ones and their lawyers obtain the dignity and freedom they deserve under the protection of the law.

Family Members of the 18 Detained Pastors and Co-workers in the Beijing Zion Church “10·9” Case

Liu Chunli Su Ziming Geng Pengpeng Gu Xiaoyu Yang Jun

Tao Tingting Li Hongyang Ren Zhong Zhang Jie Tong Hong Zhan Jing