Former Tibetan political prisoner passes away
DHARAMSALA. 4 May: A former Tibetan political prisoner has passed away last week in Chinese occupied Tibet.
“We are deeply saddened to learn the demise of former Tibetan political prisoner Tsering Bhakdro,” Gu-Chu- Sum Movement of Tibet, a Dharamsala based organization of former political prisoners of Tibet announced earlier today.
Tsering Bhakdro, who served eight years in one of the most notorious prisons in Tibet passed away at his residence in Lhasa on 26 April, Gu-Chu- Sum Movement of Tibet stated in its report.
Bhakdro, along with some of his friends staged a peaceful protest in the Tibet’s capital Lhasa on 10 May 1992 at the height of the communist regimes political re-education campaign in Tibet that particularly targets monastic institutions.
Carrying a Tibetan National flag, Bhakdro and his friends shouted slogans demanding ‘the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet and called out China for its illegal occupation of Tibet among others.
Gu-Chu- Sum Movement of Tibet, stated in its report that Bhakdro and his friends endured extensive torture after they were arrested by the local Public Security Bureau for carrying out the peaceful protest.
“He was later transferred to Gutsa prison with his friends and regularly suffered harsh interrogation and inhuman treatment for over five months before he was handed out his prison term and shifted to the notorious Drapchi prison in November 1992,” the report added.
On 9th May 2000, Bhakdro, then 51 years old was released after completing his 8 years sentence and two years deprivation of his political rights.
