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Reuters

One of the mainland’s highest profile former pastors, Joseph Gu Yuese, has been formally arrested for a second time on suspicion of embezzling funds, people close to his family said on Friday.
Police sent an arrest warrant to Gu’s family on January 7 saying he was being detained on suspicion of misappropriating funds, according to China Aid, a Texas-based Christian non-profit group that advocates for freedom of religion on the mainland.
China Aid director Bob Fu said the arrest would make Gu the highest-ranked religious official to be removed from office since the Cultural Revolution in the mid-1960s, when many Chinese religious figures were persecuted.
Leading China pastor Gu Yuese under investigation for embezzling funds: church authorities
“This will send a chilling signal to any free thinkers in the Chinese church,” Fu said.
The Communist Party says it protects freedom of religion, but keeps a tight rein on religious activities and allows only officially recognised religious institutions.
Fu said an electronic copy of the arrest warrant had been shared with his organisation by Gu’s family.
Reuters could not verify the contents of the warrant, and could not immediately reach Gu’s family for comment.
The detention centre named in the notice declined to comment when contacted by Reuters by phone.
A member of Gu’s former congregation, who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue, confirmed the arrest and said he had been turned away from Gu’s house when he attempted to visit in the middle of last month.

An investigation of Gu on suspicion of the same charges was announced by the government-backed Hangzhou Christian Council in January last year.
Contacted by Reuters about Gu’s arrest yesterday, a representive said the council was unaware of the situation.
The Zhejiang Provincial Christian Council stripped Gu of his position as committee head last February, over his arrest in relation to the investigation, which broke council regulations, state media said at the time.
Jail for Chinese pastor and wife who opposed Beijing’s order to remove crosses from churches
President Xi Jinping has unleashed a sweeping campaign against graft since coming to power four years ago.
Gu had previously served as pastor of a congregation of about 10,000 people at Chongyi Church in the coastal city of Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province.
Zhejiang is home to a large number of Chinese Christians. Previous campaigns there by authorities to dismantle crosses on top of churches have incensed worshippers.
Authorities have said crosses were removed for infringing regulations against illegal structures. Rights groups say the demolitions restrict religious freedom.
After the original investigation, members of Chongyi Church’s congregation told Reuters that Gu had written a notice criticising the demolitions.
But it is unclear whether that investigation or Gu’s reported arrest are related to the note.


China again arrests prominent pastor on suspicion of embezzlement

Lay Chinese church leader Tu Shouzhe stands on his Protestant church's roof hours after government cut down the building's cross, in Pingyang county, Zhejiang province in 2015. Photo: AP

In this July 30, 2015 photo, a parishioner of Lower Dafei Catholic Church holds rosary beads as she prays during an impromptu prayer vigil as church members wait for Chinese police, security guards, and government workers to arrive and cut down their church's cross in Lower Dafei Village in Yongjia County in eastern China's Zhejiang Province. A massive government campaign is underway in Zhejiang, where authorities are believed to be under a two-month deadline to remove crosses from the spires, vaults, roofs and wall arches of the 4,000 or so Protestant and Catholic churches that dot the landscape of the region. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

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Joseph Gu Yuese is ‘most senior religious official removed from office since Cultural Revolution’


China again arrests prominent pastor on suspicion of embezzlement

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Joseph Gu Yuese is ‘most senior religious official removed from office since Cultural Revolution’

Joseph Gu Yuese is ‘most senior religious official removed from office since Cultural Revolution’