A Chinese pastor has been released after serving a 12-year prison sentence. Zhang Shaojie and other church leaders in Henan had been planning to build a new church on a plot of land they owned, but he was charged and convicted of fabricated public order offences and fraud.
Church members believe the authorities targeted him to obtain the land and prevent the church from growing.
After his release, Pastor Zhang, 59, thanked Christians around the world for their prayers, saying had it not been for the prayers of many, he “might have been ‘disappeared’”.
