(Hubei – May 29, 2026) A court in Suizhou, Hubei Province, in central China, issued verdicts on May 22 against 31 members of a house church fellowship in one of the largest coordinated prosecutions of Christians in recent years.
Details remain limited because authorities fragmented the believers into numerous small cases involving one or two defendants, while information about the prosecutions has been tightly restricted. According to information obtained by ChinaAid, the harshest known sentence was four years in prison for Christian leader Song Yude, while the lightest known sentence was two years and four months.
“These are innocent Christians, not criminals,” said Bob Fu, president of Texas-based nonprofit ChinaAid. “They are peaceful house church members who exercised their universally recognized rights to freedom of religion, worship, assembly, and association.”
Among those sentenced was Yang Zhijin, a 77-year-old Christian from neighboring Henan Province. He received a first-instance sentence of three years and two months in prison and was fined 8,000 yuan (USD $1,180) on charges of “using a cult organization to undermine the implementation of the law.”
Authorities alleged that Yang participated in cross-provincial Christian fellowship activities, clergy training, and efforts to help detained believers secure legal representation. According to religious freedom advocates including ChinaAid, the case reflects increasingly broad use of cult-related charges against unregistered religious groups.
During the trial, Yang and his defense lawyer argued for acquittal. The defense said prosecutors cited basic Christian teachings — including beliefs that “faith in Jesus leads to heaven” and that “everyone is sinful and must confess and repent” — as evidence of criminal conduct, despite those teachings being central doctrines of orthodox Christianity.
Defense lawyers also argued that Yang had not participated in any cult organization. They said the group did not deify any leader or restrict members’ personal freedom, and that voluntary tithing should not be treated as illegal fundraising. Attorneys further maintained prosecutors failed to prove Yang had undermined the implementation of state law.
According to the court judgment, one reason for Yang’s relatively severe sentence was the highly organized structure of the Christian network he joined. The ruling stated that Yang and others managed multiple churches spanning Hubei and Henan provinces.
The judgment cited church administrative structures as evidence of criminal activity, including support teams for member care, preaching groups that arranged sermons, and a young adults ministry that introduced potential marriage partners to unmarried believers.
The ruling also characterized “rights defense activities” as criminal conduct. According to the judgment, Yang and others traveled to Suizhou in September 2023 with funds intended to provide legal assistance for detained Christians and hire defense lawyers after several believers were arrested by public security authorities.
The court described those efforts as “cross-provincial cult activities” and accused the group of “resisting law enforcement.” Supporters of the defendants said the activities amounted to routine legal assistance for detained church members.
Although the court rejected the defense’s arguments and identified Yang as a “principal offender” in a joint crime, ChinaAid said the case reflects intensifying pressure on unregistered Protestant “house churches” and other grassroots religious communities in China.
“The Chinese Communist Party continues to weaponize the legal system to persecute peaceful believers,” Fu said. “Their only ‘crime’ is worshipping God outside government control.”
Authorities accused the Suizhou fellowship of having ties to the “Total Scope Church,” which is officially classified as a “cult.” They have long used the “cult” designation as a legal basis to prosecute independent Christian groups operating outside state-controlled religious institutions. Individuals involved in the case denied any association with the church network.
Legal analysts and religious freedom advocates say Chinese authorities increasingly use Article 300 of the criminal law — which prohibits “using a cult organization to undermine the implementation of the law” — to prosecute house church gatherings, internal financial support, and mutual legal aid among believers.
Gao Zhensai is a special correspondent for ChinaAid News. Founded in 2002, ChinaAid is an international, Christian nonprofit human rights organization that inspires, informs, and invites people to transformative action on behalf of persecuted people of all faiths in China.