(Guiyang, Guizhou Province – July 29, 2024) The case against Elder Zhang Chunlei of Guiyang Ren’ai Reformed Church, charged with “inciting subversion of state power” and “fraud”, was sentenced at 10:00 AM on July 24, 2024, at the Guiyang Intermediate People’s Court in Guizhou Province. The court issued a first-instance verdict on the two charges against Elder Zhang Chunlei. Elder Zhang Chunlei was sentenced to three years and six months for “inciting subversion of state power” and two years for “fraud”, with a combined sentence of five years imprisonment, to be served until March 16, 2026. The court also ordered the recovery of ￥14,400 yuan from the “fraud” charge and imposed a fine of ￥5,000 yuan.
On the morning of the trial, some Christians that hoped to attend the hearing were blocked at the security checkpoint of the Guiyang Intermediate People’s Court. A female Christian who had entered courtroom 14 was also pushed outside and a police line was set up. Only Zhang Chunlei’s wife, Yang Aiqing, was allowed to enter the courtroom, but she was not permitted to bring her phone inside and had to store it in a locker outside.
On March 16, 2021, more than a dozen believers from Guiyang Ren’ai Reformed Church were conducting a bible study at the church when suddenly, national security agents, religious affairs officials, and police rushed into the church without showing any identification and took some believers to the police station. When Elder Zhang Chunlei learned of this and went to the police station to inquire, he was unexpectedly detained. After 37 days, he was arrested and investigated on suspicion of ” fraud”, and four months later, he was further investigated on suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power”.
The initial trial was held on November 29, 2022, but no verdict was issued at that time. During the trial, no “witnesses” or “victims” were given the opportunity to appear in court, and Elder Zhang Chunlei’s family members were also denied the chance to attend. Many Christians believe this is blatant suppression of faith, false accusation of the innocent, perversion of justice, and reversal of right and wrong.
The verdict made three rulings against Elder Zhang Chunlei:
- The defendant Zhang Chunlei is found guilty of inciting subversion of state power and sentenced to three years and six months imprisonment, with deprivation of political rights for three years; guilty of fraud and sentenced to two years imprisonment with a fine of ￥5,000 yuan. For multiple crimes, the decision is to execute a combined sentence of five years imprisonment, deprivation of political rights for three years, and a fine of ￥5,000 yuan (The sentence is calculated from the date of execution of the verdict, with each day of pre-trial detention counted as one day of the sentence. The imprisonment ranges from March 17, 2021, to March 16, 2026);
- The ￥14,400 yuan obtained by the defendant Zhang Chunlei through fraud is to be recovered according to law and returned to the victims;
- The criminal tools seized by the public security organs, including two Huawei phones, four removable hard drives, seven USB drives, two card readers, two memory cards, illegal church study notebooks, and church financial statement-related materials are to be confiscated according to law.
Those familiar with the case know that Elder Zhang Chunlei is innocent, and the two charges against him are solely because he adheres to his Christian faith and leads a church that refuses to join the government-sanctioned and controlled Three-Self church. 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. Elder Zhang Chunlei stated that he has different opinions on some religious policies, especially regarding the banning of churches and arrests, but has never had any motive or action to subvert state power.
The second ruling, “to recover ￥14,400 yuan obtained by the defendant Zhang Chunlei through fraud according to law and return it to the victims,” is particularly absurd. Ren’ai Reformed Church follows the two-thousand-year tradition of Christian churches, with believers making voluntary donations and strict financial oversight.
None of the so-called “victims” in this case reported to the police or appeared in court, nor did anyone ask the church or Elder Zhang Chunlei to return the donated funds, which is sufficient to show that this charge is artificially imposed. Regarding the church, relevant law enforcement personnel publicly carried out the ban, which Elder Chunlei never thought of or could have concealed. Some investigating police officers also said that this should not constitute fraud.
Yang Aiqing summarized the court’s trial tactics as follows:
If you don’t want to publicly announce a verdict for a case, but regulations require it to be public, what do you do? You just need to choose a smaller courtroom and find people to occupy the seats in advance. A small courtroom with twenty seats, seventeen of which were filled early by confused-looking actors posing as observers. The court has many ways to manipulate the law, but who knows the consequence in the end.
The case will be appealed.
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