23/07/2023 News / political-prisoner

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23/07/2023 News / political-prisoner
Records of politically-motivated verdicts against Tibetans removed from Chinese national databases

The Chinese authorities are systematically erasing the court verdicts of Tibetans charged with the vaguely worded and broadly defined crimes of
“endangering state security,” wiping them from public databases. This unlawful practice extends beyond Tibet’s Autonomous Region, resulting in secret trials and sentences for numerous Tibetans without any acknowledgement or information about their imprisonment. Human Rights Watch reports shed light on the absence of records for suspected state security cases involving Tibetan monks and the silence of Chinese state media.

The court verdict of Tashi Wangchuk, a Tibetan language activist released in January 2021 after serving five years in prison on a trumped-up charge of “inciting separatism,” cannot be found on China’s national database of court verdicts. Equally troubling is that the persecuted activist was not given a copy of his verdict upon his release from prison.

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11/07/2016 News
TCHRD calls for release of Tibetan language advocate Tashi Wangchuk from illegal detention
TashiWangchuk_MultiSocial-2
Sign this online petition to call for Tashi Wangchuk’s release: http://www.tibetsociety.com/content/view/593

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) is concerned about the condition and whereabouts of Tashi Wangchuk, an advocate for  Tibetan culture and language, who has been detained by Chinese authorities for over five months now in Kyegudo (Ch: Yushu) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, in the Tibetan province of Kham. There is no information about whether he had been given access to due legal process or if any trial had been held.

Tashi Wangchuk was arbitrarily detained on 27 January 2016 more than a month after an interview of him appeared in the New York Times on his efforts to file a lawsuit against the Chinese authorities for their failure to protect and promote Tibetan culture and language. Due to enormous attention generated by international media outlets, the Chinese authorities informed Tashi’s family about his arrest on 24 March, almost two months after his actual arrest. But his family members were not allowed to meet him and his whereabouts remained unknown for a long time. When the New York Times called the local police authorities about Tashi Wangchuk, an officer with surname Zhang replied that the Chinese state security agency was working on the case without giving any details.

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17/03/2016 News
Illegal detention of Tibetan language activist underscores near-absolute Chinese state repression

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) condemns the ongoing illegal detention of Tashi Wangchuk, 30, a Tibetan businessman who has been a vocal advocate for the preservation and promotion of Tibetan language education in Kyegudo (Ch: Yushu) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, in the Tibetan province of Kham. According to a 10 March 2016 report by the…

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27/08/2015 News
China detains 10 former Tibetan nomads for protesting denial of welfare benefits

  Chinese security forces have detained at least 10 Tibetan residents of Chumey Village in Nyakla Township in Nangchen (Ch: Nangqian) County, Yulshul (Ch: Yushu) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, according to exile Tibetan sources. The arrests were made after Tibetans from the village staged a peaceful protest, calling for an equal distribution of welfare benefits provided by the government…

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04/05/2015 News
Tibetan singer held under tight security amid fears for failing health
Recent picture of singer Lolo in prison uniform
Recent picture of singer Lolo in prison uniform

A Tibetan singer serving a six-year prison sentence for singing songs with politically-charged lyrics has been found recently in poor health as he continues to be kept under tight security in a prison located in the outskirts of Siling (Ch: Xining) city, capital of Qinghai Province.

Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) has received information that Tibetan singer Lolo is held under tight security surveillance even after almost two and a half years’ of imprisonment. Lolo was first detained on 19 April 2012 for releasing a music album that contained songs with politically-charged lyrics such as the well-known “Raise the Tibetan flag, Children of Snowland”. After a brief detention, he was released but was detained again and sentenced to six years on 23 February 2013. At the time of sentencing, he was 30 years old.

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18/05/2014 News
China expands new measures to directly control Tibetan monasteries
Tsultrim Kalsang, 25, one of the brightest students and an exceptional scholar at Nyatso Zilkar Monastery was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment.
Tsultrim Kalsang, 25, one of the brightest students and an exceptional scholar at Nyatso Zilkar Monastery was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment.

Chinese authorities in Yulshul (Ch: Yushu) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, in the Tibetan province of Kham has begun implementing new repressive measures introduced in late 2011 to directly control and manage Buddhist religious institutions in Tibet.

A source with contacts in Tibet told TCHRD that in recent months Chinese officials have been visiting Kyegudo and giving orders to Tibetan monasteries particularly those located in Trindu (Ch: Chenduo) County to replace all the monastic staff and management committee members with government and party appointees by 7 June 2014.

At Nyatso Zilkar Monastery located at Dzatoe (Ch: Zaduo) Township in Trindu County, a government appointed Monastery Management Committee (MMC) has already replaced the previous Democratic Management Committee (DMC) whose term of five years had not expired. The replacement took place earlier this month although TCHRD is unable to immediately confirm the exact date due to extreme restrictions on communication channels. The authorities accused the previous management committee of failing to maintain stability since numerous protests including self-immolation had occurred at the monastery in recent years notably in 2012 when Nyatso Zilkar monks were arbitrarily detained, beaten up, and sentenced including Tsultrim Kalsang, 25, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

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24/08/2013 News
Yushu mine protest crackdown exposes China’s ‘nature reserve’ sham
Armed police arrive to suppress protest in Gedrong area of Dzatoe County.
Armed police arrive to suppress protest in Gedrong area of Dzatoe County.

Last week, Chinese armed police beat and teargassed hundreds of Tibetans protesting illegal mining activities in Gedrong area in Dzatoe (Ch: Zaduo) County in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province. Exile Tibetan sources reported the detention of eight known Tibetans and hospitalisation of many others who sustained injuries after they protested against illegal diamond mining on 13 August in Atoe, Zachen and Shiza villages in Dzatoe County.

There were reports of an attempted suicide by Sogpo Choedup and the disappearance of another Tibetan man, Khentsa Sodor following the 16 August crackdown. Chinese authorities warned of severe punishment including arrest and imprisonment if the Tibetans continued to protest. Armed police tore down a huge poster that carried Chinese president Xi Jinping’s recent message on environmental protection. By displaying the banner, Tibetan protesters had sought to remind local authorities about Xi’s recent pronouncements on environmental issues.

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13/08/2013 News
Four Tibetan monks released from Chinese labour camp
A banner at 8 February 2012 demonstration in Trindu calls for the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet
A banner at 8 February 2012 demonstration in Trindu calls for the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet

Four Tibetan monks have been released following their incarceration in a Re-education Through Labour (Ch: Laojiao) camp in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai Province.

According to information received by TCHRD, four monks from Nyatso Zilkar Monastery: Sonam Gewa, Lobsang Samten, Lobsang Nyima and Tenzin Sherab were released last month from an RTL prison a few months before the completion of their sentence.

Tenzin Sherab was released on 15 July 2013. He was arrested on 1 October 2012 and later sentenced to one year for distributing a newspaper called Mar-jen (Raw Red) that apparently carried contents related to self-immolation protest. Sources say he suffered beatings and torture during detention and in RTL prison, he was forced to work for 16 hours with a brief lunch break making copper wires and gloves in the prison factory.

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18/07/2013 News
China sentences Tibetan monk to 10 yrs in prison
Tsultrim Kalsang, 26, was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Tsultrim Kalsang, 25, was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

A Tibetan monk from the restive Nyatso Zilkar Monastery has been sentenced to 10 years in prison in Dzatoe (Ch: Zaduo) town, Tridu (Ch: Chenduo) County in Jyekundo (Chinese: Yushu), Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province.

According to information received by TCHRD, Tsultrim Kalsang, 25, received a 10-year sentence in prison on ‘intentional homicide’ charges, a charge used frequently by the Chinese authorities to crack down on self-immolation protests and to persecute critics of Chinese policy in Tibet.

On 12 July 2013, at around 8 am, an Intermediate People’s Court in Xining sentenced Tsultrim Kalsang to 10 years in prison.

Local sources say Tsultrim Kalsang’s charges are possibly related to the twin self-immolation protest carried out by two Tibetan youths in Dzatoe township on 30 June 2012. Both Ngawang Norphel, 22, and Tenzin Khedup, 24, died of their injuries.

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