News and Views on Tibet

Obituary to Martyr Lobsang Dhundup

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The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy pays deepest condolence and homage to the martyr Lobsang Dhundup.

Lobsang Dhundup, aged 28, was executed Sunday (26 January, 2003) evening in Ganzi, a city near the Tibetan border in Sichuan province. The execution took place after a secret trial at the Sichuan Provincial Higher People’s Court. The same court also reaffirmed Trulku Tenzin Delek’s death sentence with a two-year reprieve.

To add to this shocking and horrific execution, according to information filtered from Tibet, Lobsang Dhundup’s ears had been cut off and his mouth and nose were all badly bruised. The body of the deceased has not yet been handed over to his family. According to our reliable source, Lobsang Dhundup died after experiencing atrocious torture.

On 2 December 2002, a court hearing was held at Karze Intermediate People’s Court in Karze “TAP” in Sichuan Province where the deceased was sentenced to immediate death penalty with life-long deprivation of political rights and Trulku Tenzin Delek to death sentence with a suspension of two years. Both of them were charged with alleged involvement in a bomb blast incident on 3 April in the city’s main square (Tianfu) in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. Other charges labelled against them were “illegal possession of arms” and “engaging in splittist activities”.

However, the execution did not take place as decided. Appeals were made and the case was referred to the Sichuan Higher People’s Court. Information received from Tibet indicated that during the court proceedings of 2 December 2002, the deceased shouted, “Neither Trulku nor I am involved in any way with the bomb explosions. The trial was unfair.”

Despite China’s international obligations as a State Party to the Convention Against Torture to “take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction”, cases of intentionally inflicted cruel and humiliating torture practices in prisons are regularly reported.

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy calls on China to actively prohibit the use of torture during interrogation and detention and to conform to the legally binding provisions of the UN Convention.

A brief history of Lobsang Dhundup, a True Hero

Lobsang Dhundup was born in 1975 to Palden Phuntsok and Gather Lhamo of Dudong Katsatsang family in Ngyachu, Lithang County, Kanze “TAP”, Sichuan Province. Since there were no schools in his village, Lobsang was not able to get himself educated. He thus helped his parents in farming. At the age of 20 he got married and fathered two children. He later left his family to and became a monk at the monastery managed by Tulku Tenzin Delek. He remained at the monastery for about a year and then left the monastery to take to business. Based in a hotel room in Ngyachu, Lithang County, he started trading in medicines and other merchandise between Nyagchuka County and Chengdu. Because of his high nationalistic spirit, Lobsang became a target of the County’s police and administrative officials.

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