CHINA-INTERNAL: RELIGION

 

China's official news agency Xinhua reported on October 30, 2015, that Wu Zeheng, founder of the Guangdong-based Buddhist group Huazang Dharma, was sentenced to life in prison and lifetime deprivation of political rights on October 30, 2015, by the Zhuhai Intermediate People’s Court and fined 7.15 million yuan. The Zhuhai Intermediate People’s Court also declared that Huazang Dharma was a “heretical religious organization.”


(Comment: Wu Zeheng has been imprisoned earlier too on charges of operating "illegal businesses" and in July 2014, the Guangdong authorities conducted a surprise raid on the Huazang Dharma Center’s various enterprises and residences, at the same time arresting Wu and several dozen of his disciples—among them several children. On July 15 this year, Xinhua published a 6,000-character article accusing Wu Zeheng of “using the cloak of the ‘Buddha Dharma’ to grow a large organization,” and of calling himself “Enlightened Emperor” and “Founding Father.” Xinhua also accused him of the crimes of “deceiving followers, illicitly accumulating wealth, seducing women, and manufacturing and selling poisonous foods.”)






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