“A Chinese preacher is facing up to a decade in prison after he was detained on what supporters say are trumped up charges intended to weaken resistance to an ongoing crackdown targeting the country’s rapidly growing Christian community,” The Telegraph reports.

Pastor Huang Yizi, 40, was arrested in Wenzhou on August 2 for “gathering to assault a state organ,” a charge frequently used to silence critics of China’s government.

Yizi has been openly critical of an ongoing anti-church demolition campaign which has affected more than 200 churches.

Other preachers and church members have been detained since the church demolitions began; however Yizi’s sentence is the most severe.

Source:The Telegraph