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Tibetans Appeal for Trulku’s Life
Dharamsala 2 November: As the deadline for Trulku Tenzin Delek’s reprieved death penalty draws close, four non-governmental organisations of the exile Tibetan community resort to peaceful campaigns to save Trulku’s life. The campaigns include hunger strikes, signature campaigns and candle light vigil.
Tibetan Youth Congress, Tibetan Women’s Association, Gu Chu Sum Movement and National Democratic Party of Tibet, all based here in Dharamshala, have jointly organised a day’s hunger strike in the Indian Capital today. Meanwhile, around 130 Tibetan monks from various monasteries here have vowed to sit without food today at the local bus station to express solidarity with the Buddhist teacher from Lithang who was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve on 2 December 2003 for alleged involvement in bombing incidents.
Around 100 nuns from various nunneries are expected to sit without food tomorrow and laymen of around similar number are expected to follow suit the next day. A candle light vigil will take place later in the evening.
The organisers seek signatures on a petition addressed to the Chinese President Hu Jintao to invalidate the death sentence passed on Trulku Tenzin Delek by a court in eastern Tibet.
According to the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, Trulku was arrested along with Lobsang Dhondup on arbitrary charges of causing bomb explosions in Chengdu. Lobsang Dhondup was executed on 26 January 2003.
Trulku’s two-year reprieve ends on 25 January 2005 according to the TCHRD which says that the expiry of the two-year suspension of death penalty will be calculated from the day the judgement was upheld by a higher court. But some analysts say that it is calculated from the day of the judgement thus the reprieve ends on 2 December 2004.
Whichever is true is of little concern to the Tibetans for whom saving Trulku’s life remains the ultimate goal.
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