Belated News: Urumqi Environmental Engineer Dies after Years of Persecution

It was learned recently that a senior environmental engineer in Urumqi passed away in July 2013, after being persecuted for years.

Mr. Gu Youquan (谷有权) was deputy director of the Environment Protection Agency in Xinjiang Province before his retirement. He regained his health shortly after he started to practise Falun Gong in 1997. The Chinese Communist Party launched its nationwide campaign against Falun Gong two years later, and he was repeatedly persecuted.

Mr. Gu was seized from his home on January 13th, 2007, and taken to a detention centre. The authorities handed him a three-year sentence with four-year suspension for “inciting subversion of state power” 11 months later.

When his employer learned of the verdict, Mr. Gu's salary and benefits were cut off immediately. He had no other source of income.

Unable to bear the shock, Mr. Gu's health quickly deteriorated, until he could no longer recognize people or take care of himself.

He died at the age of 73.