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 with limited public attendance, according to a report.

On July 24, the Guiyang Intermediate People’s Court sentenced Zhang, of the Guiyang Ren’ai Reformed Church, who suffers from liver cirrhosis, the U.K.-based group Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) said in a statement this week.

Zhang’s legal troubles began when he was detained on March 16, 2021, after visiting a local police station to inquire about the whereabouts of 10 fellow church members apprehended during a police raid at a private property where a church retreat was held.

Subsequent to his detention, Zhang was formally arrested on May 1, 2021, on fraud suspicions. In January 2022, an additional charge of “inciting subversion of state power” was brought against him. He has been held in continuous detention since, during which time his health deteriorated due to liver cirrhosis, a condition his family only recently learned about.

When Zhang entered prison, he was in good health, according to Bitter Winter, a magazine covering issues of religious liberty in China. However, while detained, he developed cholecystitis and was hospitalized in August 2023, receiving 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, and she insists that he requires appropriate medical treatment outside the prison environment.

The court sentenced Zhang to three years and six months for inciting subversion of state power, with an additional two years for fraud, 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 on public attendance, CSW noted. 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.

Harsh sentences are part of a broader strategy under President Xi Jinping’s administration. This policy seeks to force all Protestant churches to merge with the state-sanctioned Three-Self Church, thereby reducing their independence and aligning their teachings with communist ideologies.