Dharamsala, December 17 – The Tibetan Parliament in exile has urged human rights groups and the international community to call on the Chinese government to exercise restraint and peacefully resolve the tension in Nyagchuka County in Kardze Tibet Autonomous Prefecture.
On 5 December 2009, a group of seven Tibetans which later swelled to around sixty Tibetans, mostly youth from Othog proceeded to Nyagchuka County government headquarter to appeal for an immediate release of a revered Tibetan monk named Tulku Tenzin Delek, stating that he was wrongly charged and sentenced by the Sichuan Higher People’s Court in 2002.
On December 2 2002, the Kardze Intermediate People’s Court in the Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, sentenced Lobsang Dhondup, a relative of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, to death for “inciting separatism”, “causing explosions” and “illegal possession of guns and ammunition”. He was executed on January 26, 2003, despite huge international outcry.
Tenzin Delek Rinpoche received a death sentence with a two year reprieve for “causing explosions” and “inciting separatism”. Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, based at a monastery in nomad-dominated Othok, was granted a two-year reprieve, then had his sentence commuted to life in 2005.
On the night of 5 December 2009, several petitioners gathered at County government headquarter where they were rounded up and taken to an unknown location, according to sources.
According to the latest information with the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, the situation in the area is said to be “extremely tense and volatile”.
