(CP) A court in Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou Province in China, has sentenced Elder Zhang Chunlei of a house church to five years in prison for "subversion of state power" and "fraud." The sentencing occurred in a closely regulated proceeding that limited public attendance, according to a report.
The Guiyang Intermediate People's Court sentenced Zhang of the Guiyang Ren'ai Reformed Church, who suffers from liver cirrhosis, on July 24, said the UK-based group Christian Solidarity Worldwide.
Elder Zhang's legal troubles began when he was detained on March 16, 2021, following his visit to a local police station. He was inquiring about the whereabouts of 10 fellow church members who had been apprehended during a police raid at a private property where a church retreat was being held.
Subsequent to his detention, Zhang was formally arrested on May 1, 2021, under suspicions of fraud. It later surfaced in January 2022 that an additional charge had been brought against him — "inciting subversion of state power." Since then, he has been held in continuous detention, a period marked by his deteriorating health condition due to liver cirrhosis, which his family only learned about recently.
When Zhang entered prison, he was in good health, Yang said, according to Bitter Winter, a magazine dedicated to covering issues of religious liberty in China. However, while detained, he developed cholecystitis and was hospitalized in August 2023. He received intravenous support for over 20 days before being diagnosed with liver cirrhosis.
Despite his critical condition, Zhang was returned to jail. According to Yang, his survival is now at risk under these conditions. She insists that he requires appropriate medical treatment outside the prison environment.
In its decision, the court said Zhang would serve three years and six months for inciting subversion of state power, with an additional two years for the fraud charge, cumulatively amounting to a five-year sentence.
The sentencing includes the time already spent in detention, setting his release date as March 16, 2026.
The court also mandated the recovery of 14,400 yuan (about $2,000) for the fraud-related offenses and imposed an additional fine of 5,000 yuan ($700).
The court proceedings were tightly controlled, with restrictions placed on public attendance, CSW noted, saying only Zhang's wife, Yang Aiqing, was allowed inside the courtroom, under the strict condition of not having her phone with her, which she had to store in a locker.
CSW founder Mervyn Thomas vehemently criticized the charges and the sentence.
"The charges against Elder Zhang Chunlei are completely unfounded. He should not have spent the past three years in detention on them and he certainly should not have been sentenced to any more time in prison," Thomas said. He called for Zhang's immediate and unconditional release, and demanded reparations for the wrongful suffering endured by Zhang and his family.
Bitter Winter noted earlier that harsh sentences are part of a broader agenda under President Xi Jinping's administration. The policy aims to coerce all Protestant churches into merging with the state-sanctioned Three-Self Church, limiting their independence and aligning their teachings with communist ideologies.
Open Doors, which monitors Christian persecution globally, has said that the persecution of Christians in China is part of an expansive effort to control religious practice in China. This includes stringent regulations and enhanced digital surveillance specifically targeting unregistered "house churches."
Persecution is also witnessed in regions dominated by Buddhism or Islam, where converts to Christianity are under severe threat, according to Open Doors. However, the pressure is progressively increasing across the country, with digital surveillance widely impacting Christians, particularly those involved with house churches.
Elder Zhang is reportedly preparing to appeal his sentence.
