'In handcuffs, without paper or pen, I rely on others to convey my safety.'

Zhang Chunlei is an elder of Love (Ren’ai) Reformed Church in Guiyang in Guizhou Province. He has been detained by the Chinese authorities for over three and a half years. Presumably by design, his case has proven hard to disentangle, with the charges against him changing on multiple occasions. On 24 July 2024, the elder was sentenced to a total of five years in prison.

Elder Zhang’s detention began on 16 March 2021. Earlier that day, ten Christians from his church had been taken away during a police raid on a privately rented property where they were holding a retreat. Elder Zhang visited the police station to make inquiries, at which point he was detained.

 Police officers raided Elder Zhang’s home, as well as those of several other church members. They subsequently accused him and three others of ‘illegally operating as an association’. But while Chen Jianguo, Li Jinzhi and Li Lin were released days later, Elder Zhang has remained in detention ever since.

‘Swindling believers’ and ‘inciting subversion’

 On 28 March 2021 reports emerged that he had been criminally detained, at this point on suspicion of ‘fraud’. This meant that any time he spent in detention from that date on would count towards any jail term if he was convicted.

 On 1 May that same year, Elder Zhang was formally arrested on the fraud charge, having already spent nearly seven weeks in detention. A social media post by his wife later revealed further details – namely that her husband had been accused of ‘not having the status of a state-approved religious clergyman while holding religious gatherings and swindling believers of about 100,000 RMB [11,600 GBP].’

 In January 2022, it emerged that the authorities had levelled an additional charge of ‘inciting subversion of state power’ against him.

 Elder Zhang reportedly stood trial in November 2022. Then in July 2024, the outcome was finally revealed. The pastor was sentenced to a total of five years in prison, to be served until 16 March 2026 to account for the time already spent in detention.

 In a letter shared by his lawyer, Elder Zhang wrote: ‘I firmly deny the charge of fraud. As for inciting subversion of state power, I have no subjective intent. Both of these charges are trumped up, using political framing and economic stigmatization to cover up religious persecution.’

 Indeed, targeting religious leaders and believers with financial or political charges has become a common tactic of the Chinese authorities. ‘Fraud’ is often used to undermine a religious leader’s credibility, while ‘inciting subversion’ is typically used as a catch-all to target and imprison dissidents.

 As well as for his leadership of an unregistered church, Elder Zhang is likely being targeted for signing a joint statement in 2018, calling on the government to respect the basic freedoms and human rights of religious citizens. Others who signed the statement have been similarly targeted. Pastor Wang Yi of Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu is currently serving a nine-year prison sentence on unfounded charges. Meanwhile, preacher Li Jie of Covenant Home Church in Linfen was arrested at a retreat in August 2022 and charged with ‘fraud’ alongside two other members of his church; they are still awaiting trial.

 Health concerns

 ‘In the Sanjiang Second People’s Hospital, around October at the end of 2023, I had an attack of cholecystitis,’ writes Elder Zhang. ‘My face was sallow.

 The doctor called me a little golden man, I stayed in the hospital for more than a month, received infusions for more than 20 days, and was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis.’

 In May 2024, his lawyer visited him at the Guiyang City Detention Centre and reported that he appeared slightly thin, at this point unaware of Elder Zhang’s diagnosis with liver cirrhosis. In July, Zhang’s family learned that an appeal for his release on medical grounds had been rejected. Even if he is released however, the fact remains that Elder Zhang and his wife have been subjected to over three years of injustice. China must not only release him immediately, without condition, but also the countless others who are detained in relation to the peaceful practice of their religion or belief.

 The international community must increase pressure on the Chinese Communist Party to do this, and must not be misled by lies – including those put forward during the Universal Periodic Review at the United Nations. 

 And together, we must do all we can to ensure that stories like Elder Zhang’s are told as loudly and widely as possible.

 By CSW’s Press and Public Affairs Officer Ellis Heasley