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Please send an urgent letter now to Qiang Wei, Party Secretary in Qinghai province where Dhondup Wangchen is being held.
Click on the link below to send an e-mail to Qiang Wei.
The link will open your e-mail program, with the text of the letter and the e-mail address filled out. Simply add your name to the foot of the e-mail and click send.
TEXT OF THE LETTER:
Dear Party Secretary Qiang Wei
I am outraged to learn that Tibetan film-maker, Dhondup Wangchen [Chinese: Dunzhu Wangqin], was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment for “inciting separatism” by the Xining People’s Intermediate People’s Court on December 28 2009.
Dhondup Wangchen was detained in March 2008 after recording the views of ordinary Tibetans in the lead up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It is unclear what, if any crime has been committed. In recording the testimonies he was simply exercising his basic right to freedom of expression. He has been arrested on political grounds.
His fundamental rights under Chinese Criminal Procedure Law have been violated while in detention: he has been denied access to the lawyer of his family’s choosing; he has been beaten and tortured; he has been denied access to medical treatment for the condition of Hepatitis B from which he suffers; and his family were not notified when and where he was initially detained in March 2008; his relatives were not notified of the date of his trial when it started, nor were they notified of the verdict reached by the court. No international observers were present at his trial to confirm that his fundamental rights were respected, despite requests from international governments and organisations to send observers to such a trial.
This systematic violation by the Chinese authorities of legal safeguards incorporated into Chinese law lead me to believe that Dhondup Wangchen did not receive a fair trial in accordance with international fair trial standards. Such violation by the Chinese authorities in this case of due process in order to ensure Dhondup Wangchen’s conviction is counter-productive: it further undermines international respect in the Chinese judicial system.
I urge the Chinese government, and the relevant authorities in Xining in Qinghai province, to take steps to immediately release Dhondup Wangchen and stage a re-trial that is open to international observers and which accords with international fair trials standards. I further call on China to guarantee that he is not further tortured or otherwise ill-treated, and has access to family, legal assistance of his choosing and any medical care he may require while he remains in custody.
Yours sincerely
Name
Address incl postcode/Zip code
Write a letter to Party Secretary Qiang Wei
Address: Secretary of the CPC
Qinghai Provincial Committee
Qinghai Provincial General Office, No.12 Xidajie, Xining, Qinghai 810000
Write a letter to Dhondup Wangchen in prison [Chinese: Dunzhu Wangqin]
Xichuan Prison
108 Xichuan South Road
Xining City
Qing Hai Province
China, 810029
Email or write to the Chinese Embassy in your country
Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to the United Kingdom
49-51 Portland Place
London
W1B 1JL
Fax: 020-76362981
Or you can e-mail the Ambassador by clicking the link below:
If you are based in the United States, you can write to the Chinese Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong at the following address:
Zhou Wenzhong
Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to the United States of America
2300 CONNECTICUT AVENUE
N.W.
WASHINGTON D.C.
20008
U.S.A.
You can send an email to Zhou Wenzhong using the following link:
Text of letter / email:
Your Excellency,
I am outraged to learn that Tibetan film-maker, Dhondup Wangchen, was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment for “inciting separatism” by the Xining People’s Intermediate People’s Court on December 28 2009.
Dhondup Wangchen was detained in March 2008 after recording the views of ordinary Tibetans in the lead up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It is unclear what, if any crime has been committed. In recording the testimonies he was simply exercising his basic right to freedom of expression. He has been arrested on political grounds.
His fundamental rights under Chinese Criminal Procedure Law have been violated while in detention: he has been denied access to the lawyer of his family’s choosing; he has been beaten and tortured; he has been denied access to medical treatment for the condition of Hepatitis B from which he suffers; and his family were not notified when and where he was initially detained in March 2008; his relatives were not notified of the date of his trial when it started, nor were they notified of the verdict reached by the court. No international observers were present at his trial to confirm that his fundamental rights were respected, despite requests from international governments and organisations to send observers to such a trial.
This systematic violation by the Chinese authorities of legal safeguards incorporated into Chinese law lead me to believe that Dhondup Wangchen did not receive a fair trial in accordance with international fair trial standards. Such violation by the Chinese authorities in this case of due process in order to ensure Dhondup Wangchen’s conviction is counter-productive: it further undermines international respect in the Chinese judicial system.
I urge the Chinese government, and the relevant authorities in Xining in Qinghai province, to take steps to immediately release Dhondup Wangchen and stage a re-trial that is open to international observers and which accords with international fair trials standards. I further call on China to guarantee that he is not further tortured or otherwise ill-treated, and has access to family, legal assistance of his choosing and any medical care he may require while he remains in custody.
Yours sincerely
Name
