Crackdown on 'cults'

Herald Scotland
October 31, 2015

Crackdown on 'cults'

China has sentenced the head of what it calls a cult, to life in prison on charges including rape and fraud, state news agency Xinhua said yesterday, continuing a crackdown on what it views as dangerous illegal movements.

After a probe lasting more than a year, a court in the southern province of Guangdong on Friday sentenced Wu Zeheng, founder and leader of the Buddhist-inspired Huazang Dharma group, and fined him 7.15 million yuan ($1.13 million). The US Commission on International Religious Freedom, a bipartisan US government commission, says Wu and his followers are being persecuted for their religious beliefs.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/13928568.Crackdown_on__cults_/

Chinese cult leader gets life term for fraud, rape, harmful food

ASIA TIMES 
November 1, 2015 

The leader of a Buddhist sect in China has been sentenced to life in prison for fraud, rape and “harmful food preparation,” state media reported on Sunday.

Huazang Dharma leader Wu Zeheng

Huazang Dharma leader Wu Zeheng was also fined 7.15 million yuan ($1.13 million) for amassing more than 6.7 million yuan in ill-gotten gains, a south China court ruled Friday, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Three of Wu’s followers received sentences of up to four years for fraud and perverting the course of justice at the intermediate people’s court in Zhuhai, Guangdong province.

Wu denies all charges and will appeal, Xinhua said.

Supporters say Wu is being persecuted and the US Commission on International Religious Freedom has called for his release.

In an April Facebook posting by the Huazang Center attributed to Wu’s lawyer Lin Qilei, he criticized improper prosecutorial procedure and police harassment following a high-profile raid on the group’s premises last year.

Police arrested Wu at his apartment in Zhuhai where they found luxury watches, jewellery, cigarettes, liquor and a young woman in pyjamas, Xinhua said.

In a July report, state broadcaster China Central Television interviewed alleged victims who claimed Wu forced them to have sex with him.

One follower reportedly told police she had been repeatedly raped and became pregnant three times, but was forced to have abortions.

Wu told dozens of women including minors that sex with him granted them “supernatural power,” Xinhua said.

Wu also ran a restaurant in Shenzhen, where the food was promoted as containing precious secret ingredients that were in fact toxic contaminants and drugs, the report said.

Born in Guangdong province in 1967, Wu founded the group in early 1990s claiming to be the successor of eminent monks, Xinhua said. Previous state media reports this year indicated Wu’s age as 47.

Wu attracted more than 1,000 adherents by claiming he was the reincarnation of Buddha and creating a doctrine called Cultivation of Huazang, People’s Daily reported in July.

Wu’s preaching, described as inflammatory, promised his followers the ability to ward off sickness and ill fortune through charity and life science, Xinhua said.

http://atimes.com/2015/11/chinese-cult-leader-gets-life-term-for-fraud-rape-harmful-food/

China sentences "cult" leader to life in prison amid crackdown

Reuters

October 31, 2015

BEIJING, Oct 31 (Reuters) - China has sentenced the head of what it calls a cult to life in prison on charges including rape and fraud, state news agency Xinhua said on Saturday, continuing a crackdown on what it views as dangerous illegal movements.

After a probe lasting more than a year, a court in the southern province of Guangdong on Friday sentenced Wu Zeheng, founder and leader of the Buddhist-inspired Huazang Dharma group, and fined him 7.15 million yuan ($1.13 million), Xinhua cited the court as saying.

Three others were also sentenced to up to four years in prison for fraud and perverting the course of justice. Wu intends to appeal, according to Xinhua.

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, a bipartisan U.S. government commission, says Wu and his followers are being persecuted for their religious beliefs.

Reuters was not immediately able to locate a lawyer for Wu.

The Huazang Dharma has said on its website, which is blocked in China, that he is a purely religious figure facing cooked-up accusations, and has appealed for international help.

Xinhua previously reported that Wu had already been jailed at least twice, and set up his group in 2010 upon his last release from jail.

"In the name of charity and life science and through inflammatory preaching, Wu lured a growing number of followers who were interested in Buddhism, were suffering diseases or thought association with the cult would ward-off ill fortune, according to the police," the state news agency said on Saturday.

"Wu slept with many women by saying he could give them 'supernatural power'. He was also found to have amassed more than 6.7 million yuan in ill-gotten gains, according to the court," said Xinhua.

China's officially atheist Communist Party does not tolerate challenges to its rule. It prizes social stability and religious activities must be state sanctioned.

Authorities have gone after what they view as cults, which have multiplied in recent years, and demonstrations have been put down with force and some sect leaders executed. ($1 = 6.3180 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Paul Carsten and Ben Blanchard; Editing by Tom Heneghan)

http://www.trust.org/item/20151031113815-h0ndz

China to prosecute 'cult' leader as crackdown continues

July 16, 2015

BEIJING (Reuters) - China will prosecute the leader of what it calls a "cult" on charges of rape, fraud, sabotage and other crimes, state news agency Xinhua said, as the government deepens a crackdown on what it views as illegal and dangerous religious movements.

Prosecutors in the southern province of Guangdong are charging Wu Zeheng, founder and leader of Huazang Dharma, and several others after a year-long probe, the official Xinhua news agency said late on Wednesday.

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, a bipartisan U.S. government commission, says Wu and his followers are being persecuted for their religious beliefs.

Reuters was unable to reach Wu or his group for comment. It was not clear if he has a lawyer.

A statement on the group's website, which is blocked in China, appeals for international help for Wu, saying that he is a purely religious figure facing cooked-up accusations.

Xinhua said that Wu has already been jailed at least twice, and set up his Buddhist-inspired cult in 2010 upon his last release from jail.

"Glorified with fabricated educational background and life experience, Wu eventually became a master with supernatural power in the eyes of his followers," it added.

"In the name of charity and life science and through inflammatory preaching, Wu lured a growing number of believers who wished to study Buddhism, seek disease treatment, or ward off ill fortune by joining the cult."

China's official atheist Communist Party does not tolerate challenges to its rule and is obsessed with social stability. Religious activities must be state sanctioned.

Authorities have gone after what they view as cults, which have multiplied in recent years, and demonstrations have been put down with force and some sect leaders executed.

The government is considering tougher penalties for cult members, China's largely rubber stamp parliament said last month.

China executed two members of a banned religious cult in February for murdering a woman in a McDonald's restaurant after she rebuffed an apparent recruitment attempt by the group last May.

In 1999, then-President Jiang Zemin launched a campaign to crush the Falun Gong religious group. It was banned as an "evil cult" after thousands of practitioners staged a surprise but peaceful sit-in outside the leadership compound in Beijing to demand official recognition of their movement.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCAKCN0PQ0PL20150716

Buddhist Sect Leader Detained During Raid

Becky Davis
NY Times
August 5, 2014

The authorities in the southern province of Guangdong have moved against a Buddhist sect whose spiritual leader has cultivated a growing cadre of followers both inside China and abroad.

Mr. Wu in 2010, after his release from prison. Credit Wu Zeheng, a Buddhist master who has long been at odds with the government, was taken into police custody last week after the police staged a coordinated raid on a number of businesses and living compounds run by his group, Huazang Dharma.

Nearly 50 people, 20 of them children, were detained during the raids, according to the group’s followers. While the majority have been released in recent days, Mr. Wu and 18 others are still being held at various detention centers around the coastal city of Zhuhai.

The crackdown on Huazang Dharma comes at a time of increasing pressure on organized religious activity outside the government bodies that regulate much of the nation’s religious life. Buddhism is one of the five officially sanctioned religions of China — the others being Taoism, Islam, Protestantism and Catholicism — but the Communist Party requires spiritual leaders to operate under the auspices of its “patriotic” Buddhist association.