House Church Alliance Leader in China Sentenced to Labor Camp

House Church Alliance Leader in China Sentenced to Labor Camp

Authorities this week sentenced Shi Enhao, deputy leader of the Chinese House Church Alliance (CHCA), to two years of “re-education through labor” – a sentence that requires no trial or conviction, according to the China Aid Association (CAA). Compass Direct News reports that Shi was officially charged with holding “illegal meetings and illegal organizing of venues for religious meetings,” due to his leadership of a house church movement of several thousand people meeting in several venues around Beijing, CAA reported. Zhang Mingxuan, president of the CHCA, has also faced multiple arrests and detentions since founding the alliance in 2005. Police have since ordered Shi’s church members to stop meeting for worship and confiscated musical instruments, choir robes and some 140,000 RMB (US$21,740) in church donations.

House Church Alliance Leader in China Sentenced to Labor Camp