Tibetans Lost in Chinese Legal System
Activist Released, But Others Still Held
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(New York, July 15, 2003)
-- The recent release of a Tibetan activist is welcome, but Chinese authorities should stop secret trials of other Tibetans, Human Rights Watch said today. Tserang Dondrup was released on July 11 after a year in custody, but little is known about the conditions of his detention or release.
"Tibetans continue to fall into the black hole of the Chinese legal system. Secret trials and secret sentences make a mockery of China's pretense that its legal system acts according to the rule of law."
Brad Adams
Executive Director of the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch
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Human Rights Watch said that China's failure to acknowledge long prison sentences against Tibetans demonstrates yet again the government's determination to prevent the international community from learning the full extent of its ongoing crackdown against Tibetan activists.
"Tibetans continue to fall into the black hole of the Chinese legal system," said Brad Adams, executive director of the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch. "Secret trials and secret sentences make a mockery of China's pretense that its legal system acts according to the rule of law."
It is believed that Tashi Phuntsog, a follower of activist monk Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, is still in prison, sentenced to a seven-year year prison term. He reportedly was secretly tried in the Kardze (Ganzi in Chinese) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (TAP) in Sichuan province.
For Tibetans in detention, little is known about the charges against them, where they are held, the length of their sentences, the conditions of their confinement, or their health.
Even after Tserang Dondrup's reported release, there was no official confirmation of the charges against him or Tashi Phuntsog. No reference to either of the men has appeared in official public documents or the Chinese media since their arrests in 2002. However, credible unofficial accounts reported their secret trials and sentences.
Both men are believed to be in poor health. According to local reports, at his release, Tsering Dondrup could not see or walk, and "his hands were not working." Although he is trying to make himself understood, his speech is unintelligible. It is unclear if the damage to his health is life-threatening.
In highly publicized trials late last year, Tenzin Delek Rinpoche and Lobsang Dondrup were convicted for involvement in a series of five explosions in Sichuan province. Tenzin Delek was sentenced to death in December 2002; his sentence has been suspended for two years. Lobsang Dondrup was executed on January 26, 2003. Officials have never explained Tenzin Delek's alleged role in the incidents or provided evidence of either man's guilt.
The arrests of Tashi Phuntsog and Tserang Dondrup were part of a sweep against Tibetans associated with Tenzin Delek. Human Rights Watch has learned that at least thirteen men sympathetic to Tenzin Delek were detained between the time he was arrested in April 2002 and February 2003. China has not acknowledged these arrests. Four others, fearful of arrest because they worked or studied with Tenzin Delek, have gone into hiding.
"China must publicly acknowledge the fate of all Tibetans held," said Adams. "Beijing's failure to operate openly and its history of repression against Tibetan activists create legitimate cause for concern about the fairness of their trials and their conditions of detention."
Background on Tashi Phuntsog and Tserang Dondrup
Tashi Phuntsog, in his early forties, was a senior monk at Kham Nalendra Thegchen Jangchub Choeling and a close associate of Tenzin Delek. He was hospitalized with tuberculosis at the time of his arrest on April 17, 2002, ten days after Tenzin Delek was seized. He reportedly is serving a seven-year sentence. There are unconfirmed reports that he was tried in April 2003, one year after his arrest, for "supporting" Tenzin Delek and that he is held in a prison in Dartsedo (Kangding in Chinese) county. According to one local report, six days after he was detained, security personnel took Tashi Phuntsog in handcuffs back to his monastery. During that visit, the officers reportedly videotaped a staged version of his arrest.
Monks who knew Tashi Phuntsog report that he was Tenzin Delek's "right hand man." In addition to helping with the work of building monasteries, orphanages, schools, and homes for the elderly, he worked closely with Tenzin Delek on issues related to environmental degradation, such as extensive illegal logging and mining. Tenzin Delek had tried to stop or limit such activities in his home area. Tashi Phuntsog was involved in collecting approximately 40,000 signatures defending Tenzin Delek and his work. The petition was delivered to Chinese authorities in early 2001.
According to local reports, Tserang Dondrup (also known as Jortse), formerly a Chinese Communist Party member and a village head in Ortok, Horlong township, is serving a five-year sentence. He is in his late sixties or early seventies. He was one of the principal organizers of the local petition drive in 2000 to defend Tenzin Delek and an active supporter of Tenzin Delek's educational, religious, and environmental efforts in Lithang and Nyagchuka counties. He reportedly was accused at trial of "cheating the people" and "misguiding them" into supporting Tenzin Delek.
Dondrup was tried sometime between June and November 2002, probably in Nyagchuka county. It is known that he was initially held in the local detention center, but an attempt to transfer him to a prison in the network of prisons known as Rangakha in Kardze TAP failed when the prison refused to accept him because of his medical condition and his age.
According to one account, Tserang Dondrup was arrested in June 2002. When he exited his house to greet a senior official, he was immediately seized by armed police. When his wife and grandson tried to stop the arrest, the police responded with force, knocking both of them to the ground. The house was ransacked and a portrait of the Dalai Lama was smashed. When police searched Tserang Dondrup's house, they removed photographs he took in Chengdu and Beijing of the group that submitted the petition to central government officials. Several days after the incident, at a public meeting in Ortok, officials stripped Tserang Dondrup of his Communist Party membership and warned other party members not to emulate him.
Human Rights Watch believes that since 2002 at least thirteen other Tibetans were detained for peaceful political activities protected by international law. Three, all senior monks, served one-year administrative reeducation through labor sentences for engaging in activities inciting "splittism" (Tibetan independence). Others were detained for periods ranging from days to weeks for attempting to circulate news and details of the arrests, court proceedings, and treatment of those arrested or about who had been detained and where they had been taken. Others appear to have been seized simply because of their long association with Tenzin Delek.
Tibetan cases officially acknowledged by China:
* Tenzin Delek Rinpoche: arrested at Jamyang Choekhorling monastery, Nyagchuka, Sichuan province on April 7, 2002; accused of "incitement to separatism" and "crimes of terror"; sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve. The usual practice in China is that if the prisoner behaves well, at the end of the two-year period such a sentence is commuted to a life term.
* Lobsang Dondrup, twenty-eight; arrested in Chengdu; accused of distributing pro-independence leaflets and planting five bombs; executed January 26, 2003.
Cases not acknowledged, still in custody:
* Tashi Phuntsog, in his early forties; monk at Jamyang Choekhorling monastery; Nyagchuka; arrested approximately April 21, 2002; hospitalized for tuberculosis at the time; believed serving a seven-year term.
Cases not acknowledged, released:
* Tserang Dondrup (also known as Jortse); in his late sixties or early seventies; arrested approximately May 7, 2002; layperson; a village leader and Communist Party member; believed sentenced to a five-year term; released July 11; reason unknown.
* Tsultrim Dargye; thirty-six; monk at Jamyang Choekhorling monastery, Nyagchuka; arrested at the monastery with Tenzin Delek Rinpoche on April 7, 2002; released after serving a one-year reeducation through labor sentence.
* Tamdrin Tsering, thirty-three; monk at Jamyang Choekhorling monastery, Nyagchuka; arrested at the monastery with Tenzin Delek Rinpoche on April 7, 2002; released after serving a one-year reeducation through labor sentence.
* Ashar (or Aka) Dargye, forty; monk at Jamyang Choekhorling monastery, Nyagchuka; arrested at the monastery with Tenzin Delek Rinpoche on April 7, 2002; released after serving a one-year reeducation through labor sentence.
Cases not acknowledged, detained and released, but never officially arrested or charged with an offense:
* Tsultrim Dargye (Tsedi); one of two laymen detained some time after the arrest of the monks on April 7, 2002 apparently for help in collecting money to mount an appeal against an earlier attempt to arrest Tenzin Delek Rinpoche.
* Drimed Choeying (or Drimed Gyatso); one of two laymen detained some time after the arrest of the monks on April 7, 2002 apparently for help in collecting money to mount an appeal against an earlier attempt to arrest Tenzin Delek Rinpoche.
* Damchoe Nyima (or Tamdrin Nyima), a lama who was visiting the area.
* Aka Lhori (or Akhu Lorin); businessman.
* Pasang; monk and cook/tea-maker at Jamyang Choekhorling monastery, Nyagchuka; detained with Tenzin Delek Rinpoche on April 7, 2002.
* Tseri Di-Di; a business man and relative of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche; from Lithang; seized in February 2003 and released in April; probably held for informing others about court proceedings and allegations of torture of Tibetan activists in the Nyagchuka/Lithang area.
* Tapei or Tapo, businessman; seized in February 2003 and released in April; probably held for passing information about the case of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche to foreign journalists.
* Markam Tselo, monk; from Lithang; detained in late February, 2003.
Whereabouts unknown:
* Choetsom, nineteen; junior monk at Jamyang Choekhorling monastery; disappeared April 8. 2003, the day after the raid at the monastery when the police shut down the monastery; he was one of those the police questioned intensively that day.
* Pasang, probably in his late teens; disappeared April 8, 2003, the day after the raid at the monastery when the police shut down the monastery; he was one of those the police questioned intensively that day.
* Two others, who have requested anonymity, have also disappeared. They fled after learning that security officials were searching for them.
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