On Christmas Day, a prosecutor’s office in the Tibet Autonomous Region filed criminal charges against 10 Christians from the Chinese house church, All Ranges Church. This is the latest case in a nationwide crackdown against this banned Christian group, following the arrest of eight Christians in Hubei Province last September.
The 10 indicted believers–Yao Xilin, Zhang Wei, Ren Xiaoyun, Wang Haiying, Li Chunjie, Qin Chenglan, Li Xiaolin, Xiao Mingzhi, Wang Ying and Li Yan–were all charged with violating Item 1, Article 300 of the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China, a notorious and controversial charge: “Sabotaging the enforcement of laws by organising and utilising cult organisations”.
According to the indictment, half of the 10 accused believers come from the Heilongjiang, Jilin, Ningxia and Henan provinces, where they conducted business while carrying out evangelical activities; the other half are from Bayi District, Nyingchi City, Tibet, where the incident occurred. Among them, Yao Xilin, Zhang Wei and Ren Xiaoyun are currently being detained at the Nyingchi City Detention Centre, while others are currently out on bail.
The indictment alleges that since 2019, Yao Xilin, Zhang Wei and Ren Xiaoyun have restored the All Ranges Church and established the Nyingchi Church in Nyingchi City and other locations, where they have been organising and implementing “pioneer evangelism”, “spreading cult doctrines” and “developing church members”. Yao Xilin, Zhang Wei, Ren Xiaoyun and Wang Haiying were identified as principal offenders, with Yao Xilin, Zhang Wei and Ren Xiaoyun in particular being the main “preachers”. Others were responsible for the church group’s youth ministries, choir members and church logistics. These believers held various meetings multiple times and used the Zoom platform and WeChat groups for prayer.
Among them, Ren Xiaoyun was appointed as “one of the eight Deacons” by the Ningxia pastoral district of the All Ranges Church in 2018, responsible for evangelism work. He later crossed provinces to conduct missionary work in the Tibet Autonomous Region. According to the indictment, Zhang Wei and Ren Xiaoyun confessed to their actions, which constitutes a confession and can result in lighter punishment under Chinese law.
Li Chunjie, Qin Chenglan, Li Xiaolin, Xiao Mingzhi, Wang Ying and Li Yan were identified as accomplices and may receive lighter punishments or reduced sentences.
Yao Xilin from Heilongjiang, who serves as the general director of the Nyingchi Church, may become the main target of this crackdown.
It is reported that at the end of 2023, Chinese authorities arrested 13 house church leaders belonging to the All Ranges Church in Ningxia. Due to the lack of timely intervention by lawyers, government-appointed lawyers forced the defendants to plead guilty, after which they were sentenced. According to inside sources, the Chinese Communist Party is planning to use the same persecution model from Ningxia for these 10 house church leaders in Tibet, forcing them to plead guilty.
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