Miao Zenghua (pseudonym Xiaocao), female, born on November 26, 1968, was a native of Dunhua City in Jilin Province. She came to believe in the Lord Jesus in 1993 and joined The Church of Almighty God in July 2007. She was arrested by the police of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in September 2018 because of her belief in God, and then died after torture during interrogation.
From 2012 to March 2015, she held a position as a middle-level leader in the Church. According to another Christian who has since been released, in July 2018 the Chinese Communist police asked him during questioning if he knew Xiaocao and said Xiaozao was a key target for arrest.
At about 9 p.m. on September 13, 2018, four plainclothes officers with the Dunhua Public Security Bureau (PSB) pried open the door and burst into Miao Zenghua’s home. They yelled, “Don’t move, don’t say a word!” An officer said to her: “You believe in Almighty God; it’s condemned by the government! You’re a major leader!” While yelling at her, the police ransacked her home. She was so terrified by the shock of the arrest that she suffered a heart attack right on the spot and was taken to the hospital for emergency treatment.
Early the morning of September 14, just as Miao Zenghua was waking up in the hospital, the police took her to the Dunhua Public Security Bureau for questioning, not caring whether she would live or die. Her husband rushed to the PSB, but the police wouldn’t let him see her.
At 6:20 p.m. that night, Miao Zenghua’s husband received a call from the Dunhua PSB telling him to go to the Dunhua City Hospital. He rushed right over and saw her lying in a hospital bed in the ICU hooked up to oxygen; she was unable to breathe on her own and was unconscious. Her family found bruises and purple marks over a large part of her left arm that were clearly the result of torture. They tried to take a photo for evidence but were stopped by the police. When they asked the police where the injuries on her body had come from, the police and the doctor stammered and then said they were from receiving injections. Her family didn’t remotely believe their excuse.
At 3 p.m. on September 15, 2018, after an unsuccessful rescue effort, Miao Zenghua died.
According to her medical records, when an ambulance rushed to the Public Security Bureau for emergency treatment, Miao Zenghua wasn’t breathing and didn’t have a heartbeat, but the police insisted that she wasn’t deceased, just brain dead so that they could shirk responsibility.
When Miao Zenghua’s family went to the Dunhua PSB to try to get an explanation after her death, Mr. Zhang, the Bureau’s deputy chief, smacked the table and barked at them: “You think you have some kind of case? This is a major national arrest operation. Orders came directly from the provincial level to round up and get rid of people from The Church of Almighty God. She not only believed in Almighty God but was a leader. Nobody would be held responsible even if she was beaten to death.” In spite of her family trying twice to negotiate with them for reparations, nothing came of it. Her husband later sought out Lu Yang, the mayor of Dunhua, to discuss the matter with him. He repeatedly asked about the cause of his wife’s death, but the major just fobbed him off, saying that it was a normal death. In their conversation, Lu also revealed that Miao Zenghua was a key member of The Church of Almighty God, and during the interrogation she only acknowledged her belief in Almighty God but didn’t say anything else. She would rather die than sell out information of the Church and other Christians. Her family asked for the PSB’s surveillance footage to be retrieved, but they claimed that their security cameras were broken, so they were unable to provide any footage.
Another officer revealed that although extorting a confession through torture is not permitted, now even a thief won’t give up any information unless tortured. This statement was a tacit acknowledgement that Miao Zenghua really had died from police torture during questioning.
