The leader of a Protestant church in China’s Gyizhou Province received a five-year prison sentence July 24 for charges of fraud and inciting subversion.
Elder Zhang Chunlei of Guiyang Ren’ai (Love) Reformed Church was detained more than three years ago, after he went to a police station to inquire about 10 members of his congregation.
The Christians had been rounded up in a police raid at a site where they were holding a Bible study retreat.
‘Catch-all crime’
Zhang Chunlei formally was arrested May 1, 2021, on suspicion of fraud. Later, authorities added an additional charge of “inciting subversion of state power.”
“The charge of ‘inciting subversion of state power’ is a catch-all crime that the Chinese government uses to suppress dissidents, implement religious persecution, and arbitrarily apply to anyone,” according to China Aid, a human rights organization based in Midland.
Denied release
Zhang has been detained since his arrest and was denied release on medical grounds after his family learned he had been diagnosed with a liver ailment. Last August, he was hospitalized due to gall bladder inflammation.
He was sentenced to three and a half years on the charge of “inciting subversion of state power” and two years on the fraud charge.
Factoring in time already served, the two sentences were combined into a single five-year prison sentence, scheduled to end March 16, 2026.
In addition, the court ordered him to pay 14,400 yuan (about $2,000 U.S.) related to the fraud charge, plus an additional fine of 5,000 yuan ($700 U.S.).
The court also ordered the confiscation of “criminal tools” including two phones, four external hard drives, seven USB drives, two card readers, two memory cards, church study notebooks and church financial statements.
Appeal
Zhang will appeal the sentence.
Members of his church gathered at the court on the day of Zhang’s sentencing, but public security officials barred their entry. Only his wife, Yang Aiquing, was allowed to enter the courtroom.
“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,” said Mervyn Thomas, founding president of Christian Solidarity Worldwide.
“We call for his immediate and unconditional release and for reparations to be made to Elder Zhang and his family for the years of injustice they have been subjected to already.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Ken Camp and originally published by The Baptist Standard.
