a) Father Shao Zhoumin (43) and Father Jiang Sunian, two underground priests from Wenzhou who were arrested in late September (click here for more information), received prison sentences in March after being charged with making "illegal exits" when returning from China to Europe. According to a May 21 report from Zenit, Zhoumin, who was accused of having falsified his passport, has been released one month prior to the end of his nine month prison sentence due to his poor health. He suffers from an illness which he likely contracted during his detention that has left him deaf. Sunian, who is classified as a "repeat offender" due to a prior arrest for illegally publishing hymnals, is currently serving an eleven month prison sentence and is expected to be released in August.

b) After intensive diplomacy and media pressure, the five house church leaders who have been detained in Xinjiang since being arrested on April 19 (click here for more details) were released on May 17 and 18, according to a May 18 report from China Aid Association. Family members of the detained pastors were called by the local government to pay 2000 Yuan ($284 CAD) for the release of each detainee because all of them were "very ill." After payment, the families discovered that most of the pastors were in fine health but two of the male pastors had torture wounds on their arms and legs. The names of the five released leaders are Ms. Xinglan Zhao, Ms. Xiurong Huang, Pastor Tianlu Yang (41) Pastor Chaoyi Wang (41) and Ms. Cuiling Li (48)