China has indicted two leaders of the unofficial Protestant church for allegedly obtaining state secrets amid a deepening crackdown on worship outside government controls, an overseas monitoring group said Wednesday.
Church historian Liu Fenggang and psychiatrist Xu Yonghai were indicted on Monday in the eastern city of Hangzhou, Human Rights in China reported. Authorities in the city have demolished unofficial church halls and reportedly detained 300 preachers and worshippers.
The charges, authorized under China's sweeping state security laws, carry prison terms of five years to life. Human Rights in China said they appeared to be related to efforts by the two men to document the Hangzhou crackdown.
It said both men's wives have been told to hire lawyers to defend them. Such trials are usually held in secret and almost always result in guilty verdicts.
Human Rights in China called the indictments further evidence of China's crackdown on unofficial churches, despite its repeated claims to permit freedom of worship.
``The government should certainly feel ashamed of such actions, which in no way conform with China's claims of respecting freedom of worship,'' the group's president, Liu Qing, said in a statement.
China allows worship only in the official Catholic and Protestant churches, whose clergy, activities and doctrines must all be vetted and approved by Communist Party cadres. Unregistered congregations are regarded as subversive channels for foreign infiltration and their adherents are routinely harassed and fined, and sometimes sent to labor camps.
Chinese officials routinely deny violating religious freedoms, saying detained activists are criminals who violated Chinese law and imperiled national security.
Officials contacted at the Hangzhou prosecutor's office refused to comment to reporters or denied any knowledge of Xu and Liu's cases and refused to transfer the phone to other departments.
Last summer, authorities in Hangzhou demolished unofficial church halls, including private homes where services were held, and arrested worshippers and clergy in one of the most sweeping crackdowns in recent years.
Liu, a longtime activist in the underground church and pro-democracy movement, interviewed detainees upon their release and documented the destruction. He was arrested in Hangzhou in October. Computer technician Zhang Shengqi has also reportedly been charged with leaking state secrets on suspicion of helping post Liu's findings on the Internet.
Xu, a leader of youth groups under the unofficial church in Beijing, was arrested in November after police found a computer belonging to him among Liu's belongings.