(Minghui.org) A Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, resident was sentenced to six years in prison in May 2019 for not renouncing his faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Mr. Tan Changjun was arrested along with 118 other Falun Gong practitioners in Harbin and Daqing City on November 9, 2018.

He appeared in Harbin Railway Transport Court on May 23, 2019, and was sentenced to six years in prison. He has appealed the verdict to the Harbin Railway Transport Intermediate Court.

This wasn't the first time that Mr. Tan was targeted for his faith. When he was detained in Changlinzi Forced Labor Camp in 2002, the guards beat him and shocked him with electric batons when he refused to write statements to renounce Falun Gong.

The guards also forced him and other Falun Gong practitioners to squat from 5 a.m. until after midnight. They watched the practitioners closely. If anyone moved even a little or couldn't squat anymore, the guards scraped the back of their heads with their heels.

Related report:

119 Falun Gong Practitioners Arrested in Two Heilongjiang Province Cities in One Day