During the Handling of the Zion Case, Beihai Prosecutors Threatened and Induced Zion Church Pastor Liu Zhenbin to Confess Guilt and Accept Punishment Using His Young Children

(Rights Defense Network Information Center report) On July 19, 2026, this outlet learned: During the handling of the Zion case, Beihai prosecutors threatened and induced Zion Church Pastor Liu Zhenbin to confess guilt and accept punishment using his young children.

In a letter from prison, Pastor Liu Zhenbin wrote: “The prosecutor also urged me: The children are very young; you should think about the children”……I love children very much and long to witness them grow up. Being deprived of this is a great regret for me. But I have thought it through clearly. The purpose of all these unfounded charges is nothing more than to achieve two effects: 1. To make sure that no one in the house church dares to become a pastor anymore; 2. To make us shrink back in the face of punishment.”

This conduct by the Beihai prosecutors constitutes unlawful evidence collection and is a serious violation of the law.

Article 52 of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China (strictly prohibiting the unlawful collection of evidence):

•It expressly stipulates: “It is strictly prohibited to extort confessions by torture or to collect evidence through threats, inducements, deception, or other unlawful methods. No one may be forced to incriminate himself or herself.” Using children to exert psychological pressure is a typical form of evidence collection through “threats” or “inducements.”

Articles 5 and 7 of the Procurator Law of the People’s Republic of China:

•The law stipulates that prosecutors must uphold an objective and impartial position, strictly perform their duties in accordance with the law, and may not abuse their power for personal gain or harm the legitimate rights and interests of the parties concerned. The prosecutor in the Zion case, however, used improper methods to induce a confession, violating the professional ethics and objective and impartial duties that prosecutors must observe.

Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Minors: Using minor children as tools to threaten people in the handling of a case directly infringes upon the children’s mental health and basic rights and interests.

Convention on the Rights of the Child (China is a state party):

•Core principle: The principle of the best interests of the child (Article 3). In order to handle the case, the prosecutors brought innocent children into criminal criminal proceedings as bargaining chips, causing potential psychological trauma and family separation for the children, directly contravening the convention.

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (China has signed it):

•Core provision: Article 14(3)(g) stipulates that a person charged with a criminal offence may not be compelled to testify against himself or herself or to confess guilt (the principle against compelled self-incrimination).

United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (China is a state party):

Torture and inhuman treatment refer not only to physical suffering but also to severe mental suffering. Deliberately destroying a defendant’s psychological defences by threatening the safety or custody rights of his or her children may, in international human rights practice, be regarded as an inhuman means of psychological coercion.

In handling the Zion 109 case in Beihai, the procedures violated the law at every turn; the facts were fabricated arbitrarily, and it was outright religious persecution. Jin Mingri, the head pastor of Zion Church and the so-called “principal offender” in this case, has already been released and arrived in the United States. The eight “accessories,” including Liu Zhenbin, should be released immediately! The principal offender has been released and sent to the United States, while the “accessories” are still being detained and tried. Is Chinese law merely toilet paper for those in power to use as they please?