Xi’an “Light of Zion” Church Case Faces Illegal Severance and Excessive Detention; Rights Lawyers Filing Complaint Manhandled by Court Police and Have Phone Seized

On September 17, 2026, this outlet reported, citing a notice from Zion Church, that further illegal and irregular developments have emerged in the case of Pastor Gao Quanfu, Pastor Pang Yu and Pastor Tang Bingyi of Xi’an’s “Light of Zion” Church. From the end of last year to the beginning of this year, the public security, procuratorate and court authorities in Xi’an’s Beilin District illegally separated their cases and indicted them on charges of “fraud.” More than eight months have now passed. The cases have not only failed to be concluded in accordance with the law, but also involve serious violations of the statutory time limits for trial and excessive pretrial detention.

To safeguard the lawful rights and interests of those involved, several prominent human rights lawyers, including Wang Quanzhang, Bao Longjun, Lu Siwei, Peng Yonghe, Jiang Tianyong, Chang Weiping and Wang Yu, went to the Xi’an Intermediate People’s Court in accordance with the law to file a complaint as the families’ authorized lawyers. During previous negotiations at the Xi’an Intermediate People’s Court, the Gao-surnamed judge who received them cited “limited time” as the reason for asking the lawyers to contact the judges handling the cases and the court president as soon as possible.

On September 15, 2026, coinciding with a pretrial conference in Pastor Tang Bingyi’s case, the team of complaining lawyers urgently went to the Beilin District Court to negotiate. However, the court police not only obstructed the lawyers from entering normally, but also engaged in a serious incident of violent law enforcement:

Violently shoving a lawyer: Lawyer Bao Longjun, despite having successfully passed the security check, was roughly shoved by a police officer with badge number 610187 and forcibly driven out of the court entrance.

Seizing monitoring equipment: When Lawyer Wang Yu was legally filming video at the scene and monitoring the court police’s illegal abuse of power, a police officer with badge number 611081 openly seized his mobile phone.

Falsely accusing the lawyers of law enforcement violations: A police officer with badge number 610197 even attempted to shift the blame at the scene, claiming that the rights lawyers had “threatened law-enforcement personnel.”

After the incident, the lawyers at the scene immediately called 110 to report it. After receiving the call, officers from the Taibai Road police station in the jurisdiction were slow to respond. The officer who arrived at the scene, a Gao-surnamed policeman, said that he had communicated with Judge Luo, the person handling the case, to resolve the matter.

However, after the Gao-surnamed policeman left, Judge Luo’s attitude was shocking. Not only did he openly deny that Officer Gao had communicated with him, he also disclaimed responsibility in person. When the lawyers asked at the scene whether there was an “approval document for an extension” given that the three cases had still not been concluded, Judge Luo admitted that there was one. But when pressed further on “why the defense lawyers had not been notified in accordance with the law,” the judge publicly declared: “There is no obligation to notify them.”

In response, the defense lawyers’ team stated that, in handling this case, the judicial authorities had openly disregarded the statutory procedures under the Criminal Procedure Law concerning trial deadlines, case jurisdiction and the protection of lawyers’ professional rights. The judge’s disregard for the statutory obligation to provide notification not only exposed serious deficiencies in legal competence, but also severely trampled on judicial fairness. The lawyers’ team will continue to use statutory channels to firmly file complaints over the violent law-enforcement conduct of the court police involved and the illegal handling of the case by the judicial personnel.