Believers take part in a weekend mass at an underground Catholic church in Tianjin November 10, 2013.
China Aid, a Christian human rights organization based in the U.S., believes
that Pastor Gu Yuese of Hangzhou's Chongyi Church, the largest
government sanctioned church in China, has no chance to escape
sentencing by the Communist Party for standing up against the crackdown
on churches."I think the likely scenario to happen is that he will be indicted, and depending on his confession, and how cooperative he is, the length of sentence can be negotiated," Bob Fu, founder and president of China Aid, told The Christian Post in a phone interview on Thursday."All factors combined, I do not see any way that the Communist Party will let Pator Gu leave the prison without a criminal sentence," Fu added.
Gu was taken into custody and
placed under "residential surveillance at a designated location" on
Jan. 28, but was only formally charged on Feb. 6 on charges of
embezzling funds, Fu told CP.While Chinese authorities, led by
the Communist Party, have claimed that Gu is being investigated for
corruption, China Aid and other persecution watchdog groups have pointed
out that Gu is being punished more so because of his opposition to the
crackdown on churches in China, which includes the forced cross removal
from hundreds of churches in several provinces.Although
authorities have arrested several Christian pastors of underground
churches and Christian activists for protesting against the forced cross
removals, Gu is the highest ranking government-sanctioned church
official to be arrested since the cultural revolution in 1960s
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