Translated by Tashi Namgyal
Edited by Yangchen Tso
Tibetan justice advocate Gonpo Kyi is protesting and appealing outside the People’s High Court in Lhasa for her imprisoned brother, Dorjee Tashi.
Gonpo Kyi, the sister of renowned Tibetan businessman Dorjee Tashi, has been peacefully protesting and appealing for a revision and fair trial for her brother’s false imprisonment. On 14 March 2024, again, she staged a sit-in outside the People’s High Court in Lhasa.
A Tibetan standing near Gonpo Kyi captured a short video on the ground and expressed, “It has been years for her appealing to the People’s Court of Lhasa for a retrial of Dorjee Tashi’s court case, but her demands were denied, ignoring the country’s constitution. Thus, this time, Gonpo Kyi is protesting outside the people’s High Court demanding a revision of Dorjee Tashi’s case and allowing his lawyer to speak up.”
On 4 March 2024, in a video clip, Gonpo Kyi said, “Dorjee Tashi was imprisoned by the Chinese government while denied the rights given in the national constitution. These rights include access to a lawyer and retrial of a court case. We, the people, are prisoners outside the prison as we do not have any freedom and right to speak up for justice and laws. If we have freedom and rights under the national constitution, we do not have to be prisoners outside the prison.”
Tibetan businessman Dorjee Tashi was sentenced to life imprisonment through a secret trial in 2010. After serving ten years in prison, his lawyer and family members appealed to higher authorities repeatedly for a fair trial and revision of the court case but proved no result.
Gonpo Kyi has repeatedly staged peaceful protests appealing for the retrial of her brother’s false imprisonment. Solely in 2023, she staged peaceful demonstrations in front of the Lhasa Intermediate People’s Court or police stations in different ways, such as prostration and hunger strikes on 10 and 16 May, 5 and 13 July, 2 and 25 August, and 13 December. During the last protest of 2023, Gonpo Kyi was detained by officials for nine days, and her husband, Choekyong, was arrested for five days, but they were released later.
Since 20 February 2024, Gonpo Kyi has been peacefully staging a sit-in outside the People’s High Court in Lhasa.
