Lhasa police officials have interrogated and beaten Wangchen, a former Tibetan political prisoner, accusing him of visiting other provinces without travel documents and the permission from the higher authorities.
Wangchen with his family members have been to Lhasa for a pilgrimage from Sershul County, Karze, Tibet. He was beaten severely for posting numerous pictures on social media platforms and travelling without permitted documents.
A reliable source of Tibet Times said, “Wangchen does not have any travel document since Chinese authorities have confiscated his identity card and all other documents. But in June of this year, during a pilgrimage to Lhasa with his family members, he was arrested and beaten badly and injured his stomach. While police officials attempted to send him back home by flight, his stomach injuries went worse at the airport. The airport security personnel stopped him for not having a doctor’s consent letter to travel. Following this situation, he was admitted to a nearby Army hospital and as a result of medical checkup; it has been known that his stomach was extremely injured.”
In 2019, Wangchen and his other friends; Lobsang and Yonten were arrested by Chinese authorities on alleged charges of shouting for the release of 11th Panchen Lama, reuniting Panchen Lama and Gyalwa Rinpoche during a smoke offering. Lobsang and Yonten were released after six months, but Wangchen was imprisoned for four years and released in April of this year.
His aunt, Dolkar was also arrested in early May of 2019 on the charge of sharing the information about their arrest that made the society unstable and sentenced for one year and three months imprisonment in Rangaka prison. On August 15, 2020 she was released to her residence without any notification. She was at that time in critical health condition and hardly made a move.
Wangchen has his mother and two sisters in his family. He never went to school and is very fond of horse racing activities. For he is one of the best riders in the town, he used to participate in several horse races and won awards in places like Sershul, Dzatoe, Golok, and Jyekundo.
