Christian leader jailed for 12 years amid Chinese church crackdown
Critics claim Zhang Shaojie, an influential preacher from central China, has been 'set-up' by local authorities seeking to clamp down on a rapidly growing Christian church
A
prominent church leader from central China has been jailed for 12 years amid claims that his imprisonment is an attempt to clamp down on the region's fast growing Christian church.
Zhang Shaojie, the head of Henan province's Nanle County Church,
received the sentence for "gathering crowds to disturb public order" and fraud on Friday morning, Zhang Xinyun, his lawyer, confirmed, declining to give further details.
The
pastor was detained last November along with 23 other church members after a dispute with local Communist Party officials who they claimed were trying to seize the land on which their place of worship was built, activists say.
Journalists from Britain's Sky News were attacked and expelled from the area by government officials as they tried to report on the church's plight last December.
The high-profile case has appalled members of China's fast growing Christian community, which some believe could become the world's largest in the coming decades. Many see the pastor's treatment as an indication of the Communist Party's continued hostility towards their church.
"This case shows the Chinese government continues to cover up religious persecution with fabricated criminal charges against an innocent church leader," said Bob Fu, the head of China Aid, a US-based Christian campaigning group.
Friends and supporters said they were shocked with the severity of Mr Zhang's sentence.
"I strongly believe Zhang Shaojie is innocent. This is a total set-up by the local government," said Liu Weiguo, a rights lawyer who has worked with the pastor in the past.
Mr Liu said the pastor's treatment was primarily the result of a campaign against Christianity by local authorities in Henan, a province with one of China's largest Christian communities.
The lawyer said economic issues were also involved, claiming that authorities wanted to take control of land belonging the pastor's church.
"I can't figure out how the alleged crimes could add up to this heavy sentence," Mr Liu added.
Mr Zhang's sentencing comes as churches in eastern China continue to feel the impact of an ongoing "anti-church" demolition campaign. Crosses have been stripped from dozens of churches and several places of worship have been completely destroyed, local Christians say.
Church members say their places of worship are being deliberately targeted as part of a Beijing-backed attempt to hamper the growth of the church.
Zhang Xuezhong, an outspoken human rights lawyer, said the ongoing campaign was part of a wide-ranging Communist Party crackdown on people or groups it saw as an ideological threat.
Beijing's campaign was designed to weaken or eradicate any ideological challenges and sources of alternative leadership "which would be recognised or trusted by the public, like lawyers or religious leaders".
Church demolitions and the recent arrests of rights lawyers and anti-corruption activists were all signs of a weak government that was desperate to assert its authority, Mr Zhang argued. "President Xi Jinping is not a strong leader."
Christian leader jailed for 12 years amid Chinese church crackdown - Telegraph
