Source: Google News
Wire Service: AP
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gcwPZdgx2c7bPVLxm71nb1xl11ZQD9CB13S00
Five members of an unregistered Chinese Protestant congregation have been sentenced to two years in a labor camp following a police raid on their church, a monitoring group said Wednesday.
The report comes less than a week after five leaders of the same church in the northern province of Shanxi were sentenced to prison terms of up to seven years on charges including illegal assembly, the toughest punishments against unofficial church leaders in more than three years.
Hundreds of police and security guards reportedly raided sunrise services held at a rented dormitory building by the 50,000-member Linfen Fushan Church on Sept. 13. The five sentenced to a labor camp were detained for organizing a protest the next day attended by 1,000 people, the U.S.-based China Aid Association said.