Chinese priest released from detention after 11 months

Published: 2007-08-29

HONG KONG (CNS) -- Father Paul Jiang Surang, diocesan chancellor of the clandestine or underground Catholic community in Wenzhou, China, was released Aug. 24 after being detained by Chinese authorities for 11 months. The 38-year-old priest had been kept in a small solitary cell in the Putaopeng Detention Center in Wenzhou, in China's Zhejiang province, reported the Asian church news agency UCA News. Father Jiang and the diocese's vicar general, Father Peter Shao Zhumin, 46, were arrested together in Shenzhen, China, Sept. 25, 2006, shortly after they returned from a pilgrimage to Europe. Their belongings, including notes and photographs taken when Pope Benedict XVI received them at the Vatican, were confiscated. In March, both priests were charged with "illegal exit." Father Jiang was sentenced to 11 months' imprisonment. Father Shao was sentenced to nine months, but was released on parole in May because of severe hearing and gallstone problems. Recently, he underwent an operation on his right ear, sources said.

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