BEIJING - A Beijing man who forged medical bill payments for his sick wife has been handed a four-year reprieve.

Liao Dan, 41, was sentenced to three years in jail with four years' reprieve for fraud, according to the ruling handed down by the Dongcheng District People's Court on Friday, the Beijing News reported Saturday.

He was also required to pay a fine of 3,000 yuan ($482).

The court said Liao used a fake payment stamp to avoid paying his wife's dialysis bills totalling 172,000 yuan from 2007 to 2012 at the Beijing Hospital.

Unable to afford the high costs of his wife's uremia treatments, Liao forged a stamp and used it on medical bills to make it appear as though he had paid the bills.

After the hospital discovered what Liao had done, he was apprehended by police in February and prosecuted in May.

The incident aroused public sympathy after the story appeared online, and the family received donations totalling nearly 500,000 yuan.

In China, a reprieve sentence means that if the criminal exhibits good behavior during the reprieve, he or she will be exempted from serving jail time.

Liao said he was satisfied with the ruling that means he can stay home to care for his wife, according to the Beijing News.

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