Tibetan Monastery Leader in Critical Condition After Torture in Chinese Prison
By Tenzin Chokyi
DHARAMSALA 24 June: The head of a Tibetan Buddhist monastery is now in critical condition after being imprisoned and brutally tortured by Chinese authorities following a peaceful protest last year against the construction of a mega hydropower dam in Derge County, in occupied Tibet.
According to a report by Tibet Watch, the research wing of the London-based advocacy group Free Tibet, Gonpo Tsering, the chief administrator of Yena Monastery in Derge County’s Shiba Village, is “now unable to speak or swallow food, faces breathing difficulties, has lost his sight, and suffers from brain injuries” as a result of the severe torture he endured in custody.
The advocacy group, citing an anonymous source, added that he is currently receiving emergency care in a hospital in Chengdu, Sichuan.
Gonpo Tsering and the abbot of Yena Monastery, Sherap, were detained along with hundreds of Tibetan monks and local residents in February 2023 during a paramilitary crackdown on a peaceful protest.
The demonstrators were calling for a halt to the construction of the 1,100-megawatt Gangtuo Dam on the Drichu River. The project not only threatens to forcibly displace Tibetan communities from at least two major villages in the region but would also submerge six historic monasteries in the upper reaches of the river in Derge County, including Yena Monastery, Wonto Monastery, Ladrong Monastery, Gonsar Monastery, and Rabten Monastery.
According to a Radio Free Asia (RFA) report dated 16 June, sources inside occupied Tibet, speaking on condition of anonymity, have revealed that Gonpo Tsering and Sherap have been sentenced to three and four years in prison, respectively.
The same sources reported that Yena Monastery has faced particularly severe repression following the protest. Monks have been singled out for “focused rectification” and “re-education” aimed at reshaping their political ideology, with authorities labelling them as “serious informants.”
“The government really went all-out against Yena Monastery, as if venting their anger,” one source has told the RFA. “Officials said the two monastery leaders should be severely punished specifically for their decision to seek and hire legal representation.”
RFA further reported that the area on both sides of the Drichu River remains under heavy surveillance more than a year after the protest. Additionally, strict movement restrictions have been imposed on the monks and residents of monasteries and villages in the Derge region.
It is also reported that the entire region has been effectively sealed off, with nearly 4,000 residents and monks living under conditions resembling collective imprisonment, having been stripped of their freedom of movement.
