(International Christian Concern) International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that a Chinese Christian online bookstore owner, Chen Yu, was charged with “illegal business operations” on September 27. He was sentenced to seven years in prison and fined 200,000 RMB ($29,450 USD).
According to a document from the People’s Court of Linhai City, shared by Father Francis Liu from the Chinese Christian Fellowship of Righteousness, in addition to the seven-year sentence and imposed fine, Chen will also have his iPhone confiscated. Additionally, the 12,864 Christian books from his bookstore will be destroyed by the Linhai City Public Security Bureau.
On September 1, 2019, Chen, who operated his online bookstore in Zhejiang province’s Taizhou city, was detained for selling unapproved religious publications imported from Taiwan, the US, and other countries. Consequently, the police launched a nationwide investigation to track down the bookstore’s customers through sale records and confiscated their purchased books.