Kim is the Landos Human Rights Award for tomorrow, and eight Zion Church colleagues are still in prison: why is giving money a “fraud”?

Kim will be on the Washington stage on 10 December, while eight of his Chinese co-workers are still in detention. , 9 October, the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice announced and awarded the 2026 Lantos Human Rights Award to Kim Myung Day, founder of the Beijing Cyan Church. This is the first anniversary of the inter-provincial arrest of Zion shepherds by the Chinese police. The awardee was released to the United States in July, but the criminal case in Guangxi Sea was not concluded: eight shepherds and their colleagues continued to be detained, and the payment of the trust and training within the church was used by the prosecution as a basis for the prosecution of “frauding” “illegal operations”.

The Foundation has set the award ceremony for International Human Rights Day on 10 December, not on 9 October. This unsuspected ceremony, which has a special weight for eight detainees, recognizes a pastor who has regained his freedom and brings to the international political scene the unresolved religious cases in China. Kim indicated that he would not stop calling until eight of his co-workers returned home. and related cases are in court.

Eight defendants are not abstract “church personnel”

<a href="https://www.lantosfoundation.org/news/2026/10/8/pastor-ezra-jin-to-receive-2026-lantos-human-rights-prizeThe Foundation publicly lists eight names: Wang Lin, Yoon Chi Bin, Lin Shui, Gao Wing, Liu Xianbin, Wang Chung, Wang Chung, Wang Chuan and Wu Xiaoyu. Among them are priests, elders and members of the church. Since 9 October 2025, China's public security organs in many places have been conducting arrests and Kim Myung Il was taken away from his work with his colleagues. Some of the persons were subsequently released and eight have not yet been reintegrated into their families. For the spouses and children of the detainees, the Church case first means a family place where there is a long-vacant, not just the figures in the statements of international organizations.

Wang Lin's wife Su-hyun recently acceptedhttps://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2026/10/chinas-crackdown-on-house-churches-an-interview-with-su-ziming-wife-of-detained-chinese-pastor-wang-lin/"target" rel = "nopener noreferrer" data-linked-reference= "tru" data-reference-label = "Atttendance Su-min, Amnesty International" , described the fact that after her husband was taken, she and two children experienced surveillance, harassment and exit restrictions. She and her children eventually arrived in the United States, and her husband remained in China. The children are still concerned that the mother will not be arrested again. The State authorities did not prosecute the children, but they bore the consequences of the detention of their fathers, the restrictions imposed on mothers and the escape of the whole family from their lives.

When the “sponte” entered the fraud indictment

This case is different from the usual prosecution of dissidents with “inciting subversion of State power”. of July by the Zion Church, which shows that the prosecution has identified the six accused ' s followers as being committed for the fraudulent collection of funds, exceeding 10 million yuan, as shown by the statement of case by the Zion Church of 30 July; The provision of religious courses and collection of money through the Internet by some of the same workers was also considered illegal, involving more than 2 million yuan. The figures above are the prosecution ' s allegations and are not the facts of the crimes that have been established by the Court. The defendants and the church, on their part, objected to the criminalization of regular religious donations and internal training.

"and when Kim is released from detention,https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/shehui/2026/07/27/china-zion-church-pastor-jin-mingri-illegal-business-operations-fraud/"target" rel = "nopener noreferrer" data-linked-reference = "tru" data-reference-label = "Radio Free Asia Kiming Day" > Radio Free Asia explains that the Church's support to pastoralists is determined by the Deacon and Presbyterian Council to be paid through banks and that some of the courses at the Inner Bible Institute receive a 300-dollar registration fee, and some of the participants can complete their courses. Refund. He denied profiting by deceiving his followers. These statements conflict positively with the prosecution ' s characterization: one side views funds as voluntary support for religious communities by believers, while the other side uses the corresponding activities as the basis for the crime.

The controversy really touches on the autonomy of religious communities. Can a church that is not part of the official accreditation system decide how to accept the theological study of dedication, pastoralists and organizations? If the functioning of the church is put at high risk without official approval, the public security organs may use the rules of financial, educational and network management to integrate religious activities, which have lasted for many years, into the criminal investigation as a whole. This does not have to be a direct “punishment for belief” in the judgement, but it can force religious organizations to lose their personnel, their funds and their channels of communication.

From denial of a camera to cross-provincial criminal prosecution

In 2018, the Beijing Zion Church refused to install surveillance cameras at the party site and was subsequently shut down. The Church has since maintained its activities with small gatherings, online worship and training, moving from a public gathering to a decentralized network. The arrest in October 2025 brought administrative control over the meeting space to criminal prosecution of church personnel. (a) After approximately nine months of detention, Kim was released after intervention by the United States side; The same result was not obtained by other persons in the same case.

The results of such releases also revealed the limitations of human rights representations: a church leader of high international interest may leave the prison through diplomatic efforts, but no fellow worker of the same political profile remains in the criminal proceedings. The United States political, international religious freedom groups and human rights organizations can keep cases open, but cannot substitute for independent consideration of specific allegations by Chinese courts. The international prize has changed its visibility and has not changed the physical condition of the eight accused.

> > Katrina Ramtos Swet . The Foundation has established awards since 2009 and has in the past recognized the Dalai Lama, Uighur activists Jebiya and Hong Kong Democratic Champion Wong. The selection of Kim Myung Il, which brought the issue of the Chinese family church not only to the same international human rights agenda, but also made it possible for believers to operate independently of the State system of religious administration, which became a more specific political controversy.

There was a two-month gap between the anniversary of 9 October and the ceremony of the award on 10 December. This is the time for Kim to continue to speak to the same workers; For those still in detention, there is another period of time that they cannot spend with their families. Beijing could close churches, limit meetings, or bring to criminal court the offerings and religious courses, but one of the questions that arose could not be answered by the charges themselves: when a faith group was unwilling to take political control, was the State dealing with economic crimes or punishing religious insubordination?