Chinese Christians on trial for spying as part of crackdown against churches

Two members of a Protestant house church in southern China are currently on trial for spying while another is being tried for "illegal business activities" as part of an ongoing crackdown on unofficial churches.

Wang Yao and Yu Lei, both members of Huoshi Church, stood trial for "deliberately revealing state secrets" at Guiyang Intermediate People's Court in the southwestern province of Guizhou.

"Wang Yao's trial was on Monday and Yu Lei's was on Wednesday," a fellow member of Huoshi Church told Radio Free Asia (RFA).

The anonymous church member said that members of Wang's family and the two lawyers that they hired were not allowed inside the court.

"There have been people watching me in the past few days from my neighborhood committee and the local police station," the church member said. "They follow me wherever I go. The police have placed very tight controls on all Huoshi Church members," the member added.

Yang Hua, the pastor of the church, is reportedly suffering from health problems due to torture and ill treatment in jail. He has been detained since December 2015 for "divulging state secrets." His lawyers had predicted in August that he will stand trial soon but no date has been announced yet.

In Guangzhou, a house church member named Li Hongmin was accused of printing more than 11,000 copies of Protestant tracts. He pleaded not guilty when he was tried on Monday for "running an illegal business."

His lawyers maintained that Li was only exercising his constitutional right to the freedom of religion.

Ma Ke, the pastor of Guangfu Church, told RFA that the tracts that were printed were meant for distribution only within the church.

The Chinese Communist Party recently implemented a more stringent set of laws against religious activities. The new rules allow members of the party to hire and fire church leaders as well as change religious doctrines. Churches are also required to pledge their loyalty to the party.