Chinese Pastor Wang Yi Transferred to Prison, Exact Location Still Unknown

Pastor Wang Yi
Pastor Wang Yi in a sermon "Waiting Together for the Day of Redemption" preached on September 9, 2018 at Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, China. |

According to a member from the heavily persecuted Early Rain Covenant Church (ERCC) in Chengdu, imprisoned pastor Wang Yi was recently transferred from Chengdu Detention Center to a prison, but the exact location has not been made clear to Wang's family.

Chinese Pastor Wang Yi is one of the country's best-known Christian voices and founder of one of its largest underground churches. He was sentenced to nine-year of imprisonment for "subversion of state power and illegal business operations" according to a government statement in December 2019.

Last December Wang Yi with more than 100 members of his church congregation was detained. Although most of his parishioners including his wife, Jiang Rong, were released, Mr. Wang was never re-emerged from imprisonment.

His wife Jiang Rong and son Shaya Wang have been placed under surveillance since and no one knows where they live now as they are banned from contacting others.

Wang's parents are allowed to see Jiang Rong and Shaya once every month under the surveillance of guards. However, since the COVID-19 outbreak, prisons in China have turned in-person visitation to virtual. Wang's mother wishes to visit her son in prison soon and live freely without the authorities' surveillance.