Shi Guangyun, male, was born on June 6, 1940 and was from Liu’an City in Anhui Province; he joined The Church of Almighty God (CAG) in 2003. He was arrested in 2013 by the CCP police because of his faith in Almighty God, and after his release was subjected to constant surveillance and intimidation. Ultimately, he became ill and died because of the long-term psychological stress.
One of the CCP government’s common tactics in its oppression of religious beliefs is to mobilize the grassroots masses with rewards to report on Christians. In March 2013 after a fellow villager discovered his faith in Almighty God, the village committee arranged for another villager, Shi Guanghao, to track Shi Guangyun’s movements near his home. Shi Guanghao would often menace Shi Guangyun, saying, “All I have to do is call the police station and you’ll be taken away in under an hour!” He was so frightened by the prospect of being arrested by the police that he didn’t dare to sleep at home at night, but spent the night hiding in a haystack. He had always been in good health, but under the surveillance and intimidation of this villager, around June of that same year he was found to have coronary heart disease.
One morning in July, police from the Zhangli Township Police Station burst into Shi Guangyun’s home and conducted a wanton search. After finding a religious book one officer said to him menacingly, “The Party doesn’t allow belief in Eastern Lightning. That’s breaking the law, so you’re going to be taken to prison!”
Three days later at 6:00 a.m., the police took Shi Guangyun to the Zhangli Township Police Station for interrogation and tried to force him to divulge information on the church and where church funds were being kept. When their questioning yielded nothing, the police grabbed his hand and forced him to leave his thumbprint on a piece of paper. Around 4:00 a.m. the following day the police released him and threatened him very sinisterly, “If you keep believing in God you’re going to be arrested and thrown in prison!” Shi Guangyun responded resolutely, “I’m going to keep practicing my faith until I die!”
Since then the CCP police continued to incite the local villagers to monitor Shi Guangyun’s movements.
In July 2014, the CCP once again ordered the police station to re-arrest everyone on file as a CAG Christian. In order to avoid arrest, 74-year-old Shi Guangyun had no choice but to flee to Shanghai. Having suffered long-term pursuit, monitoring, and intimidation by the CCP police, Shi Guangyun, who had always been in robust health, could not endure the psychological stress. He gradually grew thin and his coronary artery disease grew worse by the day; he suffered from frequent chest pain and difficulty breathing. On November 20, 2014 he underwent a bypass surgery and became completely reliant upon medication.
From 2015 to 2018, Shi Guangyun, completely terrorized, became very nervous and afraid the moment he heard news of a Christian’s arrest by the police. He had frequent nightmares and was frightened to the point of tears and would often shout out in his sleep, “No, no, run! The police are here!” Learning that the police had been making constant phone calls to inquire after his daughter’s faith was another frightening blow to his mental health. He would often become restless, uneasy, tense, and anxious, concerned that he or his daughter could be arrested and tortured by the police at any time.
Shi Guangyun could not withstand the CCP’s surveillance and intimidation of him, and after suffering from this long-term psychological strain, he died on February 5, 2018 after the ineffective treatment of a heart attack.
