Dharamshala: In early March this year, Gonpo Kyi, the sister of Tibetan entrepreneur Dorje Tashi sentenced to life imprisonment by the Chinese government, sued the Lhasa Chengguan District Public Security Bureau for 10 days of administrative detention in December last year while she was holding a peaceful petition in Lhasa, Tibet. The Lhasa Chengguan District People’s Court, in a trial held in late June this year, dismissed all her claims, says a reliable source.
Gonpo Kyi and her husband Choekyong have been petitioning in front of the Tibet Autonomous Region Higher People’s Court for several consecutive times since January 2023 to redress their brother’s injustice, demanding that the authorities re-examine Dorje Tashi’s case and allow her to visit Dorje Tashi who has been detained for more than 15 years. A video from Tibet shows Gonpo Kyi lying in front of the Tibet Autonomous Region Higher People’s Court, holding banners with slogans such as “Dorje Tashi is not guilty”, “The Tibet High Court has wronged the law” and a photo of Xi Jinping in a peaceful protest. She has requested that Dorje Tashi’s lawyer review the case file, and that the court re-start the error correction procedure.
The Chengguan District Public Security Bureau of the Lhasa Municipal Public Security Bureau forcibly dragged Gonpo Kyi away several times during her petition activities in Lhasa, resulting in multiple bruises, as previously reported based on reliable information from Tibet. Last December, the Chengguan District Public Security Bureau detained Gonpo Kyi for 10 days for “disturbing the order of the unit” and confiscated petition banners and related items.
As a result, Gonpo Kyi filed a lawsuit with the Chengguan District People’s Court in Lhasa City at the beginning of this year against the Chengguan District Public Security Bureau in order to protect her rights and interests. She requested that the court rescind the administrative punishment imposed by the Chengguan District Public Security Bureau of Lhasa City against her as illegal, and that the “Administrative Penalty Decision” against her be revoked. In accordance with the state’s standards, the defendant was ordered to compensate the plaintiff for the economic losses she sustained during the 10-day detention. Additionally, petition banners and personal items related to the petition were seized.
The Lhasa Chengguan District People’s Court held the case on 27 June this year, and a collegial panel unsurprisingly and prejudicially ruled that Gonpo Kyi had “disrupted the order of the unit,” which authorized the Security Bureau to impose an administrative penalty in accordance with applicable laws. In addition, the request for the return of the confiscated items was denied.
Moreover, the court ruled that Gonpo Kyi’s request for administrative compensation lacked factual and legal basis, and that her illegal behavior was not protected by law, so the defendant was not responsible for administrative compensation. And rejected all Gonpo Kyi’s claims in accordance with relevant Chinese laws.
For over 15 years, Dorje Tashi has been jailed in a Chinese prison. Over the years, Dorjee Tashi’s family members have been showing growing concerns over his health conditions due to series of torture and beatings he has been subjected to. Despite numerous requests for a fair trial and a revision of the case, he continues to remain behind bars. His family has been denied visiting him in prison, and appeals to higher authorities proved fruitless. Dorjee Tashi was initially arrested on 10 July 2008 on suspicion of making donations to Tibetan exiles and providing funding to Tibetan protestors in Tibet. He was sentenced to life imprisonment on 17 May 2010.
–Filed by the UN, EU & the Human Rights Desk, Tibet Advocacy Section, DIIR
