Pastor on trial for storing Christian lit

A Chinese pastor who has been held since last year finally goes to trial today, accused by the Communist government of "illegal business operations."

According to Voice of the Martyrs, which assists persecuted Christians across the globe, Cai Zhuohua's only "crime" is leading six house churches in Beijing and overseeing a storage room containing 200,000 copies of Christian literature, including some Bibles.

In China, only one publisher, affiliated with the officially sanctioned Three-Self Patriotic Movement, is allowed to print Bibles and other Christian literature, and the numbers of these items are severely limited.

The Chinese government is prosecuting Cai, 32, under business fraud laws so it can continue to claim there is religious freedom in China, VOM asserts. The pastor's supports say he was not selling the literature but using it for only internal house-church purposes.

The trial was set be begin at 9 a.m. today in Beijing at the People's Court of Haidian District. The judge hearing the case previously delayed the trial after word of it leaked internationally.

Facing a possible five to seven years in prison, Cai has a volunteer defense team of six attorneys.

The pastor was arrested Sept. 11. As Cai was waiting at a bus stop, three men approached him and pushed him into a white van. Members of his family fled after his arrest, but Cai's wife, her brother and his wife were all arrested Sept. 27.

Cai's case has received special attention from the communist government. VOM reports Beijing has labeled the pastor's prosecution as the "most serious case on overseas religious infiltration since the founding of the People's Republic of China."

Cai and his wife have a 4-year-old son, Cai Yabo, who is under the care of his grandmother.

Sign up for a free subscription to The Voice of the Martyrs' newsletter to receive updates on the persecuted church worldwide.

Related stories:

China arrests bishop

China deports U.S. church leaders

Chinese Christian testifies of torture

Top Chinese church leader arrested

100 church leaders arrested

Christian released under global pressure

Imprisoned pastor fears for life

Pastor beaten for leading inmates to Christ

Church leaders tried for revealing crackdown