23 June 2009

 

Phurbu Rinpoche is currently awaiting sentencing by the Dartsedo People’s Court (Sichuan Province) for possession of weapons and occupying state land. His lawyers claim that his arrest is unlawful, the evidence against him unsound and that he has been tortured. Free Tibet believes that Phurbu Rinpoche’s arrest is connected to local protests last year.

Phurbu Rinpoche, 52, is a revered lama who is also highly respected by local Tibetans and Chinese for his community work in Kandze County, one of the most restive regions in Tibet, where he has set up two nunneries, clinics, an old people’s home and arranged care for local orphans.

On 18 May 2008 a pistol with a hundred bullets was allegedly found in Phurbu Rinpoche’s living room during a midnight raid. He was arrested and charged with illegal possession of weapons. Phurbu Rinpoche denies the charges, claiming he was framed. If found guilty he faces up to 15 years in prison.

Free Tibet believes that Phurbu Rinpoche was detained following peaceful demonstrations by nuns from Pangrina nunnery, where he is abbot, in order to deter local Tibetans from further protests. On 14 May 2008, 80 nuns held a demonstration in Kandze town against an official campaign to impose “patriotic re-education” in the local nunneries. Phurbu Rinpoche was arrested four days later. The nuns were also arrested and beaten by police. Several of the nuns are believed still to be in detention while others have already been sentenced.

In a rare case for Tibetan defendants, Phurbu Rinpoche’s trial in April this year was held in open court and he is being defended by two well known Chinese human rights lawyers, Li Fanping and Jiang Tianyong. According to his lawyers, Phurbu Rinpoche was tortured while in detention and his family threatened in order to force him to confess to the charges against him.

The lawyers also claim that the case lacks sufficient evidence, noting that the court did not investigate the source of the firearms or ammunition and even failed to check for fingerprints. Phurbu Rinpoche was also charged with “seizing and occupying state property”, a charge relating to land on which he has built an old people’s home. His lawyers stated that documents show that Phurbu Rinpoche bought the land in 2005 and that it is not state-owned.

A verdict was expected on 28 April 2009 but the court has decided to postpone the sentencing. No new date has been confirmed but his lawyers believe a heavy sentence will be handed down if he is found guilty.

 

TAKE ACTION

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 is unsound and any conviction

against him is therefore 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
Madam Fu Ying
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 David Miliband calling on him publicly to condemn the torture and the unfair trial of Phurbu Rinpoche and call for charges dropped against him

Rt Hon David Miliband MP
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.