Chinese government officials are refusing to return the body of a 94-year-old bishop who spent more than half his life in prison to allow his relatives to hold a funeral for him.
There had been no news of Bishop Cosma Shi Enxiang of Yixian, in China’s Hebei Province, since his arrest 14 years ago, until his family was notified of his death last month.
The communist government is thought to fear possible demonstrations at a funeral of this “underground” bishop, who was incarcerated for refusing to recognise the state’s Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association. Officials have since denied that he has died.
After two years under house arrest, Bishop Shi’s first prison term spanned 23 years, from 1957 to 1980, and he mostly spent it doing hard labour, some of it down coal mines. He was rearrested in 1989 and released in 1993. His final arrest was on Good Friday 2001, and he was held without charge, trial or any outside communication. The death of another underground bishop, Joseph Fan Xueyan of Baoding in 1992, led to 30,000 flocking to his funeral and demanding an investigation into his torture and death.
His great-niece, Shi Chunyan, said: "We are now waiting for the prelate, whether it be his body or ashes, to be returned to Shizhuang, our home town, before we decide what to do next.” As news of his death spread in China, Chinese Catholics expressed sadness and also pride that they had another "martyr”.
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