The US State Department confirmed in a press conference on Monday that David Lin, an American pastor the US alleges was wrongfully detained since 2009, has been released. US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller stated that Lin returned to the US for the first time in almost 20 years after he was released from prison in China.

Lin’s release comes after Jake Sullivan, the current US State representative, wrapped up a three-day trip to Beijing, China to meet with top Beijing officials. While Miller did not confirm if the release was a result of negotiations during the trip, he stated that the US Secretary raised David Lin’s case whenever he met with Chinese officials. Miller also said that the US State Department would “continue to push for the release of other Americans.”

Lin was originally arrested in 2009 after he attempted to create a Christian training center in Beijing, where he was then arrested and sentenced to life on the charge of “contract fraud”. According to rights organization Dui Hua Foundation, contract fraud charges are “frequently used against Church house leaders who raise funds to support their work”. The foundation previously wrote:

Dui Hua found that the 1997 revision to the criminal law placed “cult” trials into the purview of district courts, resulting in less transparency and attention [to] such cases. By 1999, trials of Article 300 cases—for those accused of organizing and using superstitious sects, secret societies [] and religious organizations to undermine the law—soared, largely due to the ban on Falun Gong.