Pastor Cao Sanqiang, Sentenced to 7 Years, Seriously Ill After Release; Cancer Has Metastasized to His Bone Marrow, Calls for CCP Authorities to Allow Him to Go Abroad for Treatment and Reunite with His Family

（Rights Defense Network Information Center report）On April 22, 2026，this outlet learned：Pastor Cao Sanqiang, who was sentenced to seven years, became seriously ill after his release，and his cancer has now metastasized to his bone marrow，prompting people from all walks of life to call on the CCP authorities to allow him to go abroad to reunite with his family and receive treatment。

Pastor Cao Sanqiang was originally the founder of a house church in Shaoyang City, Changsha，and a pastor of the “China Gospel Association.” He was sentenced to seven years for evangelism，and after completing his sentence in March 2024, returned to Changsha to live with his nearly 90-year-old mother。

He now suffers from advanced prostate cancer and spinal tumors，and the cancer has already metastasized to his bone marrow，compressing his nerves and causing unbearable pain when he walks、sleeps or sits。Pastor Cao Sanqiang was admitted to Hunan Provincial People’s Hospital for treatment on Monday, April 20, 2026。

Pastor Cao Sanqiang’s family members are all in the United States（his 89-year-old mother also recently went to the United States to visit relatives），but the authorities have confiscated his passport，preventing him from reuniting with his wife and children for more than a decade，and he was even unable to attend his son’s wedding or meet his grandchild after the child was born。People from all walks of life are calling on the CCP authorities to allow him to go abroad to reunite with his family and receive treatment。

Cao Sanqiang：Born on May 3, 1959, he is from Changsha City, Hunan Province. He formerly worked as a teacher, and was the founder of a house church in Shaoyang City, Changsha, a pastor of the “China Gospel Association,” and a Chinese prisoner of conscience。

In his early years, he founded a house church in his hometown of Shaoyang City, Changsha City, Hunan；

After the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake，he went to the disaster area to engage in Christian charitable work in Sichuan, helping students and earthquake victims overcome their difficulties；he also went to the Pu’er area of Yunnan Province to engage in evangelism, charitable relief and the promotion of Christianity and education, and founded several schools there to help impoverished children enroll in school；

On March 5, 2017，when he and another Christian co-worker, Jing Ruxia, were returning to China from the Wa State of Myanmar（Myanmar’s Second Special Region）, they entered China through an unofficial route for convenience and were intercepted by border defense armed police. He was subsequently criminally detained by police in Menglian County, Pu’er City, on suspicion of the “crime of illegally crossing the national border”；

On March 25 of the same year，he was formally arrested by the Menglian County Procuratorate on suspicion of the “crime of illegally crossing the national border” and detained at the Menglian County Detention Center in Pu’er City；on July 13，the case against the two was transferred to the procuratorate for review and prosecution；

On February 9, 2018，his case was formally heard at the Menglian County Court in Pu’er City, Yunnan Province, and his relatives and friends attended the proceedings；although the defense lawyer argued that his client’s conduct should not constitute a crime, on March 23, 2018, he was nevertheless harshly sentenced at first instance by the Menglian County Court in Pu’er City to seven years’ imprisonment for the “crime of illegally crossing the national border” and fined 20,000 yuan；he appealed the ruling, but on July 12, 2019, the Pu’er Intermediate Court upheld the original judgment in its second-instance decision, with his sentence running until March 4, 2024。He served his sentence at Yunnan No. 2 Prison.