Court conducts trial of pastor Yang Hua in secret

A court in China's Guizhou province conducted the trial of a prominent pastor in secret, preventing his wife from attending the hearing on Monday.

Yang Hua, a pastor of Huoshi Church in Guizhou's capital of Guiyang, is being tried for the charge of "divulging state secrets," China Aid reported.

According to his lawyers, the court denied the requests that they made during the pre-trial sessions. Prior to the hearing, Yang claimed that he was tortured by the prosecutors to elicit a confession. He requested that the prosecutors be barred from the case, but the court permitted them to remain.

In 2015, two church members leaked a document that revealed the existence of a state-run agency that dealt specifically with Huoshi church.

The institution, named "Guiyang Municipal Command and Control Center for Dealing with Huoshi Church," was given authority to control other government departments throughout Guiyang, so the lawyers requested for the trial to be moved outside the jurisdiction of the agency. The request was also denied by the officials.

Yang's wife, Wang Hongwu, was barred from attending the hearing. She arrived at the court at 7:00 a.m., but she was forcibly escorted back home after two hours.

Yang was initially arrested on Dec. 9, 2015 when he tried to prevent the authorities from confiscating a hard drive during a raid. The next day, he was charged with the crime of "obstructing justice" and "gathering a crowd to disturb public order," and he received two consecutive five-day administrative detention sentences.

When his wife came to pick him up on Dec. 20, she was informed that he was transferred to another detention center and that he was charged with "illegally possessing state secrets." The charge was changed to "divulging state secrets" on Jan. 22, 2016.

In June, Yang told his lawyers that the prosecutors tortured him and forced him to confess. The prosecutors allegedly threatened to kill him and feed him to the pigs.

When his lawyers came to visit him in September, they found out that Yang has been suffering from serious health conditions. The pastor had to pay for his own treatment despite contracting the illnesses inside the detention center.

Last month, the pastor wrote a letter to his wife telling her not to worry about his health. He also encouraged her to keep her faith strong despite their difficult situation.

"Never be dejected and despondent, always look up at our Lord, and always keep the spiritual life above the chaos of the real environment. Rest in God's arms. 'Some rely on chariots, some on horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord,' [Psalm 20:7]. Be upright and take care," Yang said in his letter.