(Minghui.org) A resident of Mang City, Yunnan Province, was sentenced to five years in prison for not renouncing his faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual and meditation practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Mr. Wu Xingming, 40, was arrested on June 26, 2018 after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong. The police ransacked his home and confiscated his computer and several cellphones.

Mr. Wu was sentenced to prison and fined 10,000 yuan by Baoshan City Court on April 9, 2019. He appealed to Baoshan Intermediate Court in June, but his appeal was rejected.

He was transferred from Longling Detention Center to Yunnan Province No.1 Detention Center in July 2019.

Mr. Wu's latest sentence came only two years after he was released from a previous 5-year term for his faith. He also served three terms in forced labor camps for a total of seven years between 2000 and 2009.

During his 12 years behind bars, he was intimidated, tortured, held in solitary confinement and denied family visits because he refused to renounce his faith. The guards also forced him to do heavy labor without pay, even when he held a hunger strike to protest the persecution.

His workplace fired him after he was arrested for appealing for the right to practice Falun Gong in Beijing in August 2000.