Zhang Wenrong, female, born in 1987, a resident in Xingfa community in Xingshan district of Hegang City in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, joined The Church of Almighty God (CAG) in 2012. She and her husband were forcibly arrested by the police in December 2018 for their belief. After they were released, the police put them under sustained surveillance, and Zhang’s husband had no choice but to flee home to evade arrest. Afterward, the police constantly visited their home and phoned to harass Zhang, forcing her to tell the whereabouts of her husband and parents-in-law. Zhang was overwhelmed with tremendous mental pressure, and suffered illnesses, deteriorating into liver failure. She died at the age of 33.
Zhang Wenrong, her husband, and her parents-in-law are all CAG Christians. Due to the CCP’s persecution of religion, Zhang’s father-in-law fled to a democratic county, where he continued his belief and participated in making the CAG’s gospel movies. The online showing of these movies drew attention from the CCP government.
As Zhang Wenrong recounted before her death, over 3 p.m. on December 3, 2018, four officers from the police station forcibly arrested her husband in front of the residential building where they lived. When she just returned home from work at 5:30 p.m., she was arrested by the police who kept a watch out, and taken to the police station for interrogation.
The police questioned Zhang and her husband about their belief, and inquired the belief and whereabouts of her parents-in-law. They also claimed that belief in Almighty God is posing a challenge to the state’s regime. The next evening, Zhang was released, and her husband was only released after being detained for ten days.
On December 15, 2018, the police summoned Zhang and her husband to the police station, and forced them to sign the three statements promising to give up their belief. The police threatened to deprive their child of opportunities to become a public servant or a government employee if they did not sign them. Zhang and her husband refused. The police also collected biological information from Zhang’s husband, and told him that he could not go abroad in the future.
Afterward, the police frequently phoned Zhang and asked her to tell her husband’s whereabouts, and they also visited their home and recorded a video of her husband. In May 2019, her husband had to flee home to evade the police arrest.
On July 17, 2019, three officers from the National Security Brigade and the local police station broke into Zhang’s home, and questioned her about the whereabouts of her husband and parents-in-law. The CCP police’s prolonged interrogation and harassment caused Zhang great mental pressure, which led to her illness. She often had abdominal distension and ran a fever. Without appetite, she became emaciated day by day. In late January 2020, she was hospitalized for ten days, but the CCP police did not let her go, and still phoned to harass her every a few days, forcing her to get her husband and parents-in-law back home. The CCP’s prolonged harassment caused Zhang tremendous mental pressure, and her condition was rapidly worsened. She said to the police painfully on phone, “Don’t phone to force me again. I’m ill. I don’t know where my husband and parents-in-law are!”
On May 14, 2020, as Zhang’s condition deteriorated, her family sent her to the Central Hospital in Jiamusi City. She was diagnosed with liver failure, and died four days later after all rescue measures proved ineffective.
As Zhang was persecuted to death by the CCP at the age of 33, her elderly parents were extremely grieved, and her 4-year-old son was orphaned. A happy family has been ruined by the CCP’s persecution.
