Bangri Tsamtrul Rinpoche, a reincarnated lama and founder of the Gyatso orphanage home, was due for release on 31 July this year after serving 18 years of life imprisonment in Chushur (Ch: Qushui) County Prison near Lhasa.
Jigme Gyatso, a 48-year-old Tibetan political prisoner from Amdo Kersul, who is serving 17 years’ prison sentence is learnt to be seriously ill following years of torture and ill-treatment in the prison since 1996, according to information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) from reliable sources.
The Centre expresses its deepest concern at the continued imprisonment of seriously ill Jigme Gyatso and urges the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to order his immediate release on compassionate health grounds. Jigme Gyatso is currently serving his sentence in Chushul Prison (Ch: Quhui), on the outskirt of Lhasa city.
The Chinese government has commuted the death sentence on Trulku Tenzin Delek to life imprisonment. “ The Higher People’s Court in Sichuan province, in Southwestern China, commuted the death penalty with two-year reprieve for a Tibetan monk involve in terrorist bombings to life term on Wednesday”, Xinhua, the official news agency of the People’s Republic of China reported.
The court verdict also said, “A’an Zhaxi, also known as Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, was deprived of his political rights for life, which was handed down to him during the day.”
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) believes that the verdict was widely expected considering past record of such similar cases. Despite the news of a life sentence for Trulku, TCHRD strongly urges the Chinese government to conduct a fair re-trial while allowing Trulku legal representation of his own choosing.
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy received reliable information on Bangri Rinpoche’s arrest of 26 August 1999. (Ref: TCHRD Update January 2000 & December 2003) (Background detail on Bangri Rinpoche attached below)
It has come to light through reliable sources to TCHRD- that in September 2001, Bangri Rinpoche was senteced to life by the Lhasa Municipality Intermediate People’s Court for attempting to ‘split’ the country.
Nyima Choedon, Bangri Rinpoche’s wife was sentenced to ten years imprisonment for the same charge. On 29 May 2001, both were shifted to Drapchi Prison in the north of Lhasa City and were incarcerated in solitary confinement for more than a year. They were later shifted to prison unit no. 5 meant for prisoners with political charges.