China hands down lengthy prison sentences to Christians over alleged cult involvement

A group of Christians in China's southern Yunnan province received lengthy prison sentences for their supposed involvement in a cult.

A court handed down prison sentences ranging from four to 13 years in length to Christians who were accused of taking part in the activities of the Three Grades of Servants organization, which was designated by the Yunnan government as a dangerous cult.

Liang Qin and Ju Dianhong, who received 10- and 13-year sentences, respectively, expressed disappointment with the verdict and vowed to appeal.

According to China Aid, the authorities accused Ju of leading the Three Grades Servants and recruiting members for the organization. Ju, however, stressed that she has never heard of the group and contended that she did not even know the definition of the word "cult." She explained that she only preached about Jesus, and never harmed anyone or acted contrary to biblical principles.

The other convicted Christians — Zhang Hongyan, Zi Huimei, Yang Shunxiang, and Zhang Shaocai — received sentences ranging from four to eight years in length for the same charges.

China Aid President Bob Fu decried the verdict saying, "The large number of arbitrary arrests and extremely harsh, long sentences imposed on these young church leaders under the guise of being 'anti-evil cult' shows that [Chinese President] Xi's regime has no interest in respecting its citizens' freedom of religion or belief."

"The threat against these accused church leaders' lawyers denies the basic elements of rule of law. We call upon the Chinese leaders to immediately release these leaders and make proper amends to those who have been arbitrarily detained and tortured," he added.

According to an earlier report from China Aid, as many as 200 people have been accused of being involved in the cult, following a province-wide crackdown. The crackdown reportedly began on Oct. 21, 2016, after the local government formed a special investigative force on March 15 that same year.

Forty Christians are still in custody and are awaiting trials in connection with the case. Their lawyers recently received notices announcing that they are suspected of illegally defending their clients.

The notice warned that their qualifications will come under the review of the government. One of the lawyers, Xiao Yunyang, said at the time that he and his colleagues are coming up with a contingency plan so that they could continue defending their clients.

Some of the Christians have been charged with "utilizing evil religious organizations [the Three Grades of Servants] to undermine law enforcement" for conducting missionary work. A trial was supposed to take place for some of the accused on Oct. 26, but the court session has since been postponed twice.