UPDATE

It has been reported that Phurbu Rinpoche was sentenced to eight and a half years imprisonment for illegally occupying government land and possession of weapons in December 2009. His lawyers could not be present at the sentencing as they had been disbarred from practicing earlier in the year. Read more in this Times article.

Phurbu Rinpoche is a respected Tibetan Lama who headed a convent in Ganzi, a predominantly Tibetan prefecture in Sichuan provine. He also ran an old people's home and his lawyer Li Fangping said that he "is very influential locally and who is broadly respected". It has been said that Rinpoche was forced into making a confession after police interrogation which had lasted four days and that threats had been made that his wife and son would also be detained if he did not comply.

Li Fangping and Jiang Tianyong are both well respected Chinese lawyers who have been denied the chance to represent Tibteans in such cases before. They were involved in securing the release of Jigme Gyatso, and have since had their licenses turned down for renewal by the authorities. The case against Phurbu Rinpoche was also postponed after it began, and the lama remains in detention.

Li Fangping and Jiang Tianyong had complained that the court had violated Chinese law in this case, and that the charges against Phurbu Rinpoche "lack factual clarity and sufficient evidence." They stated that Phurbu Rinpoche's confession had been obtained after a harsh interrogation, saying that "he was handcuffed by an alternating hand each day to an iron pillar in the interrogation room, and with arms outstretched and unable to sit down he was interrogated continuously for four days and four nights by a team of six people in three units of two people; at the same time the defendant was told that if he did bit confess that the weapons and explosives were his, then his wife and son would be detained. Under such harsh interrogation the defendant had no option but to go against his will and 'confess without reservation'." The lawyers stated that "anything attained under such torture and such terrifying threats is not only factual, it is also in serious breach of the Crimminal Procedure Law... it also contravenes the 'Procedural Regulations for Public Security Organs Handling of Criminal Cases' and is a serious breach of procedure." They also complained that they, the defense lawyers, had not been allowed to meet with the defendant at the detention centre, and that this "brutally and illegally violated" their right to do so under Chinese law.

The trial was postponed in April 2009. Li Fangping stated that no alternative data had yet been offered, and the fact that the authorities have now removed the lawyer's right to practice may also jeprodise the chance of a fair trial. It is thought that Phurbu Rinpoche would face anything between 5 to 15 years in prison once the sentence is passed. It is also thought that the lama's high standing in the local Tibetan community could bring discontent if he receives a harsh sentence.

The case of Phurbu Rinpoche is an example of the systematic failures of the Chinese state to implement its own legislation ensuring due process and banning the use of torture.

Write to the Minister of Justice of China raising the following points:

1) The evidence against Phurbu Rinpoche was unsound and his conviction unsafe

2) Phurbu Rinpoche’s confession was extracted under torture and is

inadmissible as evidence according to Chinese Procedural Law.

3) Allegations of torture should be investigated and those responsible must be held accountable.

Address your letter to:
Ministry of Justice
WU Aiying Buzhang
Sifabu 10 Chaoyangmen Nandajie,
Chaoyangqu, Beijingshi 100020,
People's Republic of China

c/o: Chinese Ambassador in your country

UK: Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the UK
The Embassy of the People’s Republic of China
49-51 Portland Place
London W1 1JL
Fax: 020-76362981
press@chinese-embassy.org.uk

2. Write to Foreign Secretary William Hague calling on him publicly to condemn the torture and the unfair trial of Phurbu Rinpoche and call for his release.

Rt Hon William Hague
Foreign Secretary
Foreign & Commonwealth Office
King Charles Street
London SW1A 2AH

Fax: 020 7008 1500

Please send copies of any responses to Free Tibet, this helps us to monitor the situation.

Phurbu Rinpoche prior to his arrest