Ma Yan, a Christian pastor from Zhenxiong, Yunnan Province, was charged and tried on 10 February for “organising illegal gatherings” in relation to a gathering of no more than ten Christians in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
Last year, on 9 August, he was detained along with three other Christians during a raid on a gathering at a guesthouse in Jinfeng District, Yinchuan, by police officers from the Jinfeng District Public Security Bureau.
The next day, on 10 August, the bureau issued an administrative detention order against the four detained individuals for “disrupting public order” and detained them at the Yinchuan Detention Centre. Two of the believers were detained for seven days while Ma and the other believer were held for 10 days.
On 20 August, Ma was criminally detained by the same bureau on the charge of “organising illegal gatherings”. He was formally arrested on the same charge on 26 September.
Sources report that Ma pleaded guilty during the trial on 10 February because the charge of “organising illegal gatherings” carries a lighter sentence compared to other charges and does not attract moral stigmatisation.
Ma’s trial concluded without an immediate verdict, but if the court follows the prosecutor’s sentencing recommendation, Ma will be sentenced to nine months in prison.
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