(Minghui.org) An air-conditioner repairman in Beijing was sentenced in April 2022 to three years for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Mr. Hao Hucheng, 36, a native of Wu’an City, Hebei Province, sent a greeting video to the overseas media Epoch Times via social media WeChat during the Chinese New Year in February 2021.

On February 17, the Beijing police contacted Mr. Hao. As he was in his hometown celebrating the New Year with his family, the Beijing police ordered officers of Huoshuixiang Police Station in Wu’an City to monitor him. The Wu’an police gave him 15 days of detention, but didn’t execute it, as Mr. Hao demanded to hire a lawyer. He returned to Beijing weeks later.

The Beijing police located Mr. Hao while he was driving on the evening of April 22, 2021. The police searched his car and found 1,000 pieces of five-yuan paper currency printed with information about Falun Gong. Due to strict information censorship, Falun Gong practitioners use creative ways such as this to raise awareness about the persecution.

The police then searched Mr. Hao’s residence and confiscated his cellphone and bank deposit notes. He was taken to the Changping District Detention Center that night. It’s reported that it was officers from the Qiliqu Police Station who arrested him.

Mr. Hao was tried by the Changping District Court in the detention center on January 20, 2022. The judge sentenced him to three years in early April 2022 with an unknown amount of court fine.

This is the second time that Mr. Hao has been sentenced. He was previously arrested in 2007 for talking to people about Falun Gong while working in Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province. He was later sentenced to two years and three months by the Ningbo City Court.