In China, a prominent pastor has been sentenced to nine years in prison for subversion. Wang Yi worked for a Protestant organization that is not recognized by the Communist Party.
Wang is said to have criticized China's President Xi Jinping on several occasions and held an annual service to commemorate the victims of the Tiananmen massacre. On the square of the same name in Beijing, thousands of pro-democratic demonstrators were killed in 1989.
A court in Chengdu City, southwest China, said that Wang Yi was convicted not only for infiltrating the system, but also for illegal business. He had been fined and his private property had been confiscated.
Wang led the Early Rain Covenant Church and was arrested a year ago in a raid against unauthorized religious groups in the country. The communist government requires that Protestants only worship in churches that are recognized and regulated by a party-affiliated organization.
Members of religious minorities locked up in re-education camps
The pastor's lawyer, Si Weijiang, said the illegal business charges relate to the printing of books on Christian culture. The charge of incitement to the people was raised because of Wang's sermons.
China's ruling atheist party has long tried to prevent religious groups from practicing their faith. Most recently, she had crosses removed from Christian churches and caged more than a million members of Islamic minorities in so-called re-education camps.
