Lawyers of jailed Chinese pastor request medical bail after finding client in critical condition

The lawyers of jailed Chinese Pastor Yang Hua are requesting medical bail for their client who is in need of urgent medical treatment due to his deteriorating health.

Yang, the pastor of Living Stone house church in Guiyang, is currently suffering from ulcers on his legs, which prevents him from sleeping at night because of the burning pain. The physician at the Nanming District Detention Center reportedly treated the pastor's condition as nothing more than a superficial skin infection and gave him painkillers.

When one of Yang's attorneys visited him at the detention center on March 20, the lawyer was surprised to see him being carried to the meeting room by three sturdy cellmates, China Change reported.

According to Yang, a doctor at Guiyang Sixth Municipal Hospital diagnosed him with a form of allergic vasculitis, an inflammation of the blood vessels. The doctor warned that his leg could be amputated if no treatment could be found for his condition. He recommended a high dosage of penicillin, but the clinic at the detention center does not have the medicine.

He was then brought to the No. 368 People's Armed Police Hospital for a physical inspection, but the five physicians could not come up with a final diagnosis. The doctors recommended that Yang should be sent to a regular hospital for treatment, but they indicated that the cost of the treatment might be "extremely high."

On March 24, Yang was reportedly brought to the Guizhou Provincial People's Hospital for another physical examination. His lawyers have written a letter to the Guiyang Procuratorate, asking for a review of the continued necessity to detain their client.

That same day, the pastor's wife, Wang Hongwu, arrived at the detention center just as Yang was coming back from his physical exam at the provincial hospital. It was the first time they were able to see each other since Yang was detained in December 2015. Wang had asked her fellow parishioners to pray for the pastor.

Yang was arrested on Dec. 9, 2015 on charges of "deliberately divulging state secrets." At that time of his arrest, the authorities also announced that Living Stone church has been banned from operating. Local authorities sealed off the 600-square-meter office space used by the church as its place of worship.

The advocacy group Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) criticized the Chinese government's harsh treatment of Yang and his family.

"We call on the Chinese government to release Yang Hua, to allow him immediate access to adequate medical care, and to investigate allegations of torture and ill-treatment in detention," CSW's Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said.

"We further call on the Chinese authorities to cease all harassment and restrictions on other church members, and to uphold the right to freedom of religion or belief for all," he added.