Wang Yi
Detained Since: December 9, 2018.
Charges: Illegal business operations and inciting to subvert state power.
Sentence: Nine years in prison.
Biography: Wang Yi was a human rights attorney before converting to Christianity in 2005. In 2008, he founded the Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, Yunnan Province. The church became one of the most prominent unregistered churches in the country.
The government requires Protestant Christians to worship only in churches recognized and regulated by the party-led Three-Self Patriotic Movement, but Pastor Wang Yi refused to register the church. On December 9, 2018, the Early Rain Covenant Church was shut down during a series of government raids on church gatherings. Pastor Wang Yi and more than 100 members of his congregation were detained by authorities.
The church released a prepared statement from its pastor after his arrest denouncing the Chinese Communist Party's restrictions on religious freedom. "I firmly believe that Christ has called me to carry out this faithful disobedience through a life of service, under this regime that opposes the gospel and persecutes the church," he wrote in a widely shared Declaration of Faithful Disobedience. "This is the means by which I preach the gospel, and it is the mystery of the gospel which I preach."
On December 26, 2019, Pastor Wang Yi was tried for "inciting to subvert state power" and "illegal business operations." On December 30, he was sentenced to nine years imprisonment, the longest prison term issued against a house church pastor in a decade, according to World Magazine reporter June Cheng. Wang stated that he denies whatever charges the government has against him, but will serve his time.
The Conference for Global Christians in Law awarded him the 2008 "Prize for the Contribution to Promoting Religious Freedom." In 2006, Pastor Wang Yi met with President George W. Bush at the White House. The State Department has also commented on his arrest and trial.
Advocate: Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC)
Advocacy Partner: U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
Past Advocate: Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO, Ret.)
Updates:
- During the 38th EU-China Human Rights Dialogue the European Union called on China to immediately release multiple prisoners of conscience including Wang Yi, John Cao, Ilham Tohti, Gao Zhisheng, Wang Bingzhang, and Xu Zhiyong (February 17, 2023, European External Action Service).
- On October 30, 2023, Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) introduced the Combatting the Persecution of Religious Groups in China Act (S.3164) which called for actions to be taken by the United States Government to defend religious freedom in China, citing the cases of Pastor Wang Yi, Pastor Zhang Shaojie, Pastor John Cao, and Gedun Choekyi Nyima, the 11th Panchen Lama as examples of violations to the right to freedom of religion or belief in the country (October 27, 2023, Office of Senator Ted Budd; October 30, 2023, Congress.gov).
- During their statement for the "Item 4 General debate on human rights situations that require the Council’s attention" at the 55th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, the European Union called for the immediate, unconditional release of Rahile Dawut, Ilham Tohti, Gulshan Abbas, Gao Zhisheng, Xu Zhiyong, Wang Yi, Ekpar Asat, Wang Bingzhang, and John Cao (who had been released on March 5, 2024) in China and Vladimir Kara-Murza in Russia, among others, as well as raised the general situation of arbitrary detainees in Belarus and Iran, and highlighted concerns over the death in custody of Alexei Navalny (March 20, 2024, Delegation of the European Union to the UN).
- The cases of Wang Yi, Zhou Deyong, Gao Zhisheng, Zhang Shaojie, Ilham Tohti,, Rahile Dawut, Gulshan Abbas, Ekpar Asat, Wang Bingzhang, Ding Jiaxi, and Xu Zhiyong were highlighted in the State Department's 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices chapter on China (April 22, 2024, U.S. Department of State).
- During their statement for the "Item 4 General debate on human rights situations that require the Council’s attention" at the 57th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, the European Union called for the immediate, unconditional release of Wang Yi, Rahile Dawut, Ilham Tohti, Gulshan Abbas, Gao Zhisheng, Xu Zhiyong, Ekpar Asat, Wang Bingzhang, and Ding Jiaxi, among others in China, and raised the general situation of arbitrary detainees in Russia and Belarus. They also highlighted concerns over the ongoing trial of Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong (September 24, 2024, Delegation of the European Union to the UN).