ICC Note: Pastor Zhang Shaojie, who was arrested by Chinese authorities back in November, is to go to trial on charges of “fraud” and “disturbing public order.” The pastor, along with two dozen other members of his church, were arrested in a heavy handed crack down on the Three-Self Nanle Country Christian Church in Henan Province. The arrests were most likely provoked after the pastor and other church members went to petition the government in Beijing over a land dispute. China continues to maintain tight control over religious minorities in the country and regularly arrests members of “illegal” house churches. The blatant targeting for repression of a sanctioned “Three-Self” church is more unusual.  Attorneys attempting to take on the pastors case have been blocked, threatened with suspension of their law licenses, and attacked by angry mobs of government hired thugs. 
1/15/2014 China (ChinaAid) – Authorities in the central Chinese province of Henan are preparing to put an influential detained pastor who defended his church’s land rights on trial on public order and “fraud” charges, his lawyer said on Wednesday.
A criminal charge sheet issued recently by a court in Henan’s Nanle county accuses Protestant pastor Zhang Shaojie of “gathering a crowd to disturb public order” and committing “fraud,” his lawyer Liu Weiguo told RFA’s Mandarin Service.
“I requested a meeting with Zhang Shaojie today, but the detention center staff wouldn’t let me visit him,” Liu said. “They said I would have to get the agreement of the court.”
He said the detention center was in clear breach of provisions under China’s Criminal Procedure Law relating to meetings with lawyers.
“I have already given my letter of instruction to the court, and I will go back this afternoon to request a meeting again,” he said.
The Chinese authorities had been cracking down on Zhang’s government-approved Nanle church for about a month before his November detention following a land dispute that pitted the popular preacher against the county government.
The crackdown on a state-approved church surprised many observers as the Communist government officially allows Christians to only worship in such churches, while unregistered congregations tend to be harassed.
Church supporters say the county government reneged on an agreement to allocate Zhang’s church a piece of land for the construction of a new building.
…
[Full Story]