Dharamshala: Chinese authorities released Gendun Drakpa (Dapaka), a monk from Thangkor Socktsang Monastery in Ngaba (incorporated into China’s Sichuan Province) in August 2021 after serving five years sentence, according to Free Tibet. He was reportedly hospitalised due to poor health following his release.

He is subjected to further restrictions and deprivation of political rights as both he and his family are placed on enhanced state surveillance. In addition, he is required to report to a police station monthly on indefinite parole.

Gendun was arrested and held in arbitrary detention for a year after an armed police raid of their monastery on 24 August 2015. Thereafter, he was charged with ‘inciting separatism’ and ‘sharing information with Tibetans in exile’ on the peaceful protests held by Tibetan nomads in 2015 against government land seizures in Ka Bharma Village, Ngaba. He was illegally sentenced for five years in prison in a secret trial without access to any legal rights including the absence of legal representation.

Tibetan prisoners often suffer long-term health problems due to prolonged torture, inhuman and degrading treatment inflicted on them in prisons. Kunchok Jinpa, Tenzin Nyima, and Tashi Phuntsok are part of an extensive list of Tibetan political prisoners, who have passed away after their release.

Chinese authorities arbitrarily detain and imprison Tibetans consistently under the euphemism of ‘inciting separatism’. According to Chinese government, expressions of Tibetan culture and identity are often classified as act of separatism.

– Filed by the UN, EU, and Human Rights Desk/DIIR