By Choekyi Lhamo
DHARAMSHALA, June 19: Prominent Tibetan environmentalist and anti-corruption activist, Anya Sengdra’s court appeal has been rejected by the Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Intermediate Court on Wednesday. The Tibetan activist received a seven-year prison sentence in Dec 2019 for his peaceful campaign against corruption by Chinese government officials along with 8 other Tibetans whose appeals were also rejected.
Lin Qilei, Anya Sengdra’s lawyer on June 17 posted on Twitter, “Tibetan Anya Sengdra and others are suspected of the crimes of provoking troubles and gathering crowds to disrupt social order in the second instance of their trial, and after two days of trial on the Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Intermediate Court, and their sentencing in court is to ‘dismiss the appeal, maintain the original sentence.’ The trial ended at 6 PM on June 17, 2020. As the defenders, we express our regret.”
Anya Sengdra was detained last year on the charges of “provoking troubles, forming a mob to disturb social order, and other evil cases” by Gade County people’s court in Golog prefecture. His lawyer, Lin Qilei, at the time said that the verdict will not be accepted and that there would be an appeal. The Chinese court in the Tibetan area dismissed the appeal after a hearing on June 16 and 17.
ICT President Matteo Mecacci said, “Anya Sengdra is in prison simply because he campaigned against government corruption and the misuse of public funds. In a sane society, he would be praised as a good citizen. But under the warped rule of China’s authoritarian Communist Party-the same regime that, let us not forget, repressed whistleblowers doctor who wanted to alert the public about the dangers of the coronavirus pandemic- Anya Sengdra is considered ‘evil.’”
He has been conducting campaigns against government corruption since 2014 when he co-founded a volunteer organization Mangdon Ling (Public Affairs Forum) to fight against abuse of power. He criticized local officials for misusing public money and ran campaigns against illegal mining activities and poaching of endangered animals. China used a nationwide campaign in 2019 against “black” and “evil forces” to crackdown on Tibetans’ loyalty to the Dalai Lama and group activities deemed illegal by the CCP.
The UN human rights experts and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in May urged the Chinese government to drop charges against Anya Sengdra and raised concern about reports of deterioration in his physical and mental health in detention. “The charges against Mr Sengdra stem from a wider crackdown on Tibetan minority human rights defenders. They constitute violations of Mr Sengdra’s right as a member of a minority community to exercise his human rights without discrimination or intimidation, including his freedom of expression,” the experts said.
