China releases pastor tortured in detention, accused of 'endangering national security'
Chinese authorities have released a pastor who was reportedly tortured in detention and accused of endangering national security, more than four years after opening a case against him and two co-defendants over their unregistered church.
The pastor, Lian Xuliang, went back to his house earlier this month, ChinaAid reported, citing Weiquanwang, a rights group.
Lian leads the Xi’an Church of Abundance, an unregistered congregation in the Shaanxi provincial capital.
The case, and what comes next for the two co-defendants, preacher Fu Juan and Lian’s father, Pastor Lian Changnian, remained unclear after his release.
Police arrested Lian Xuliang and two other church members on Aug. 17, 2022, and accused all three of fraud and “endangering national security,” according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which says Lian was tortured while held afterward.
The Xi’an Municipal Public Security Bureau placed the three under a measure Chinese law calls “residential surveillance at a designated location,” a form of secret detention at a site chosen by the government, on suspicion of fraud.
The three were held separately in small rooms at a converted hotel for six months, with no word to their families the whole time, according to the rights group Church in Chains. They suffered starvation, beatings, drugging and long denial of bathroom access, the group said.
A church prayer letter dated April 29, 2024, said he endured severe abuse in custody.
Two days after the August 2022 arrests, Xi’an’s civil affairs agency banned the church as an illegal social organization for operating without registration.
On Feb. 15, 2023, the three were moved into criminal detention and transferred to another Xi’an facility, and prosecutors won approval a month later to formally arrest them.
Afterward, police summoned church members and used torture to pressure them into accusing the pastors of fraud and renouncing their faith, though many identified as alleged victims said they had tithed willingly.
Prosecutors built the case largely on one woman, Qin Wen, who has since said she wasn't defrauded and was coerced into the accusation. She later hired a lawyer to clear the pastors’ names and lost her kindergarten job for doing so.
In January 2024, the case reached court, with prosecutors recommending five years in prison for each defendant.
On April 12, 2025, authorities placed the three back under surveillance and released them on bail. Lian Changnian, then 71, needed treatment at a hospital for his deteriorating health.
He was evaluated at Xi’an Mental Health Center and underwent an MRI of his neck. On May 29, 2025, doctors recorded a diagnosis of “organic mental disorder, state of anxiety and severe fatigue of the entire brain.” The scan also showed spinal damage and he was hospitalized twice more in June for recurring spinal issues.
A June 5, 2025, newsletter from the congregation said authorities had intimidated, threatened and abused Lian Changnian, leaving him unable to lie flat in his sleep over two years and eight months in custody and severely harming his health.
A lawyer who visited him on Sept. 10, 2024, had found him showing cognitive decline plus hallucinations, and said he feared being poisoned or strangled while asleep.
Xi’an judges took up the case on July 9, 2025, but reached no verdict. While they awaited that decision, the Public Security Bureau detained all three again on Nov. 2, with the Baqiao District Court approving the new arrests.
Lian Changnian, who was still undergoing treatment at a hospital when the new arrests came, was moved from home to the Weiyang District Detention Center, a facility in Xi’an where all three remain held.
The Xi’an Church of Abundance dates to the early 1990s, when Lian Changnian founded it. He also holds a senior role in the China Gospel Fellowship, an unauthorized network of churches in Henan province, which has drawn years of persecution and a listing as a banned cult organization, with many pastors and members arrested.
The congregation had been singled out over its independence, theological standing, and growing membership, according to Bitter Winter magazine, which reported the detentions appeared meant to dismantle its leadership and discourage members.
Chinese authorities have increasingly used fraud charges against unregistered church leaders.
