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| China Says 5 in Sect Killed Woman Who Wouldn’t Join | China Says 5 in Sect Killed Woman Who Wouldn’t Join |
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| HONG KONG — Five defendants went on trial in eastern China on Thursday, accused of beating and kicking a woman to death in a McDonald’s restaurant after she resisted their attempt to recruit her into a sect that has been condemned by the government as a malignant cult. | |
| The trial, in the Shandong Province city of Yantai, has been widely publicized by the Chinese news media and has served as the government’s main exhibit in a renewed campaign to eradicate the Church of Almighty God, an offshoot of Christianity that believes Jesus Christ has returned as a Chinese woman who will save followers from apocalyptic destruction. | The trial, in the Shandong Province city of Yantai, has been widely publicized by the Chinese news media and has served as the government’s main exhibit in a renewed campaign to eradicate the Church of Almighty God, an offshoot of Christianity that believes Jesus Christ has returned as a Chinese woman who will save followers from apocalyptic destruction. |
| Chinese television and webcasts showed four women and a man standing in court in handcuffs and orange jail vests before the charges were read out: intentional homicide against all of them, and charges of “using a cult to undermine the law” against three, including those accused of being the main culprits, Zhang Lidong, a former medicine salesman from northern China, and his elder daughter, Zhang Fan. | Chinese television and webcasts showed four women and a man standing in court in handcuffs and orange jail vests before the charges were read out: intentional homicide against all of them, and charges of “using a cult to undermine the law” against three, including those accused of being the main culprits, Zhang Lidong, a former medicine salesman from northern China, and his elder daughter, Zhang Fan. |
| The homicide charge could result in the death penalty; a lawyer representing the victim argued that the defendants had not shown remorse or made any effort to make amends. | The homicide charge could result in the death penalty; a lawyer representing the victim argued that the defendants had not shown remorse or made any effort to make amends. |
| “There are none of the statutory conditions for leniency, and there should be harsh punishment,” said the lawyer, Gao Cheng, according to the website of People’s Daily, a state newspaper. But China national radio news reported on Wednesday that two of the defendants, Zhang Hang and Zhang Qiaolian, “expressed remorse and guilt,” while the other three showed no remorse. | “There are none of the statutory conditions for leniency, and there should be harsh punishment,” said the lawyer, Gao Cheng, according to the website of People’s Daily, a state newspaper. But China national radio news reported on Wednesday that two of the defendants, Zhang Hang and Zhang Qiaolian, “expressed remorse and guilt,” while the other three showed no remorse. |
| On the evening of May 28, Wu Shuoyan was with her young son in a McDonald’s in the city of Zhaoyuan in Shandong when a group of six people asked customers for their telephone numbers, according to witnesses who were interviewed on Chinese television. After Ms. Wu refused, a quarrel broke out, and members of the group bludgeoned and kicked her, leaving her in a pool of blood. (One of the accused women was with her son, about 12 years old, who was not put on trial because he was a minor.) | On the evening of May 28, Wu Shuoyan was with her young son in a McDonald’s in the city of Zhaoyuan in Shandong when a group of six people asked customers for their telephone numbers, according to witnesses who were interviewed on Chinese television. After Ms. Wu refused, a quarrel broke out, and members of the group bludgeoned and kicked her, leaving her in a pool of blood. (One of the accused women was with her son, about 12 years old, who was not put on trial because he was a minor.) |
| Images of the attack quickly spread online, and public revulsion grew after the broadcast of an interview with Mr. Zhang, described as the ringleader of the assault. He appeared coldly unrepentant about the attack, which he said was inspired by his daughter’s instant hatred of the victim. | Images of the attack quickly spread online, and public revulsion grew after the broadcast of an interview with Mr. Zhang, described as the ringleader of the assault. He appeared coldly unrepentant about the attack, which he said was inspired by his daughter’s instant hatred of the victim. |
| “My daughter said she took one look and saw she was no good,” Mr. Zhang said in the interview with CCTV. “It was an evil spirit, a demon.” He said he beat and stomped on Ms. Wu to kill her. | “My daughter said she took one look and saw she was no good,” Mr. Zhang said in the interview with CCTV. “It was an evil spirit, a demon.” He said he beat and stomped on Ms. Wu to kill her. |
| The Chinese government’s desire to make an example of the five has been clear from reports and commentaries in the state-run news media. The Ministry of Public Security said Tuesday that in a nationwide crackdown on the Church of Almighty God since June, the police had arrested nearly 1,000 people, including nearly 100 leaders and key members of the church. The ministry did not describe the charges against them. | The Chinese government’s desire to make an example of the five has been clear from reports and commentaries in the state-run news media. The Ministry of Public Security said Tuesday that in a nationwide crackdown on the Church of Almighty God since June, the police had arrested nearly 1,000 people, including nearly 100 leaders and key members of the church. The ministry did not describe the charges against them. |
| “The Church of Almighty God fraudulently uses the name of religion to swindle the public and illegally reap wealth,” said a report by Xinhua, the state-run news agency, which accompanied the ministry’s statement. | “The Church of Almighty God fraudulently uses the name of religion to swindle the public and illegally reap wealth,” said a report by Xinhua, the state-run news agency, which accompanied the ministry’s statement. |
| The trial and campaign against the sect have served as a fresh — and, for Communist Party leaders, alarming — reminder of the undergrowth of heterodox religious beliefs that has spread, despite repeated crackdowns. Especially since 1999, when followers of the Falun Gong spiritual movement surrounded the Communist Party headquarters in Beijing, the party leadership has overseen repeated campaigns to eradicate spiritual and religious groups deemed to be cults that foster crime, coercion and political defiance. | The trial and campaign against the sect have served as a fresh — and, for Communist Party leaders, alarming — reminder of the undergrowth of heterodox religious beliefs that has spread, despite repeated crackdowns. Especially since 1999, when followers of the Falun Gong spiritual movement surrounded the Communist Party headquarters in Beijing, the party leadership has overseen repeated campaigns to eradicate spiritual and religious groups deemed to be cults that foster crime, coercion and political defiance. |
| International human rights groups have said that these campaigns have persecuted many people whose only offense has been to embrace beliefs abhorrent to the authorities. Followers of the church have rejected the accusations that its beliefs inspired the attack. | International human rights groups have said that these campaigns have persecuted many people whose only offense has been to embrace beliefs abhorrent to the authorities. Followers of the church have rejected the accusations that its beliefs inspired the attack. |