European Parliament Passes Resolution

Dharamsala, November 19 – A resolution calling for an immediate review of Trulku Tenzin Delek’s case and commuting of his death sentence was passed in the European Parliament yesterday. The resolution tabled by five different political groups came in the wake of increasing concern the world over about the Buddhist Lama’s reprieved death punishment which expires on 2 December.

While strongly condemning the execution of Trulku’s aide Lobsang Dhondup on 26 January last year, the European Parliament called on the Chief Prosecutor of the Sichuan Provincial People’s procurate and the Governor of Sichuan Provincial People’s government to do their utmost to prevent execution of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche’.

The European Parliament expressed concerns over Trulku being reportedly held incommunicado and tortured for several moths. It resolved to urge the authorities to guarantee that Tenzin Delek Rinpoche will not be ill-treated in detention, ask for an immediate review of the case and calls on the Chinese authorities to do all in their power to establish that international human rights and humanitarian law standards are being respected and, in particular, to guarantee internationally recognised legal proceedings for persons arrested;

The resolution also called on the European Union and its Member States to urge the Government of People’s Republic of China to respect the religious rights and freedom of the Tibetan people in particular to prevent the execution of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche and to call for a new and fair trial.

The European Parliament also resolved to call on the Commission and the Council to express their concerns about Tenzin Delek Rinpoche’s case during the forthcoming EU / China Summit.

A resolution on the cases of Trulku Tenzin Delek and late Lobsang Dhondup was passed in the same parliament on 19 December 2002.

Welcoming the release on parole of Ngawang Sangdrol and Takna Jigme Sangmo earlier, it resolved to urge the Chinese government to continue with prisoner releases.

Reiterating its call to the Council to appoint an EU Special Representative for Tibetan Affairs so as to contribute effectively to the peaceful resolution of the Tibet issue, it called on China to step up the ongoing dialogue with the envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to achieve a mutually acceptable solution to the issue of Tibet.

Full Text

Resolution on Tibet, the case of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche

The European Parliament,

• recalling its earlier resolutions on Tibet and the human rights situation in China, and its annual reports on human rights in the world
• recalling its resolution adopted on the 19th of December 2002 on the cases of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche and Lobsang Dhondup
  1. whereas on 2 December 2002 the Kardze (Ganzi) Intermediate People’s Court in the Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province sentenced Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, an influential Buddhist lama, to death, suspended for two years, and his attendant, Lobsang Dhondup, was executed on 26 January 2003, in both cases for alleged political offences,
  2. whereas both had been arrested in early April 2002 following a bombing incident in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, on 3 April 2002,
  3. whereas Tenzin Delek Rinpoche was charged with ‘causing explosions’ and ‘inciting separatism’ and his guilt has not been proven
  4. whereas Tenzin Delek is reportedly being held incommunicado from his arrest until today, and has reportedly been tortured for several months
  5. Seriously concerned by the fact that the period of suspension of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche’s execution will expire on 2 December 2004
  6. whereas at the request of the European Council, the Council currently is re-examining the embargo on arms sales to China, which was decided and implemented in 1989,
  7. whereas the Government of the PRC recently received representatives of His Holiness the Dalai Lama,
     1. Reiterates its call for the abolition of the death penalty, calls for an immediate moratorium on capital punishment in China and urges the Chinese authorities to immediately commute the death sentence handed down to Tenzin Delek Rinpoche;
     2. Strongly condemns the execution on 26 January 2003 of Lobsang Dhondup;
     3. Calls on the Chief Prosecutor of the Sichuan Provincial People’s procuratorate and the Governor of the Sichuan Provincial People’s government to do their utmost to prevent the execution of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche;
     4. Urges the authorities to guarantee that Tenzin Delek Rinpoche will not be ill-treated in detention, asks for an immediate review of the case and calls on the Chinese authorities to do all in their power to establish that international human rights and humanitarian law standards are being respected and, in particular, to guarantee internationally recognised legal proceedings for persons arrested;
     5. Calls on the European Union and its Member States to urge the Government of Peoples Republic of China to respect the religious rights and freedom of the Tibetan people in particular to prevent the execution of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche and to call for a new and fair trial.
     6. Calls on the Commission and the Council to express their concerns about Tenzin Delek Rinpoche’s case during the forthcoming EU / China Summit;
     7. Welcomes the release of Ngawang Sangdrol and Jigme Sangpo, Tibet’s longest-serving prisoners of conscience, and urges the Chinese authorities to continue with prisoner releases;
     8. Calls on the Government of the Peoples Republic of China to step up the ongoing dialogue with the Representatives of the Dalai Lama with the aim of reaching a mutually acceptable solution to the issue of Tibet without further delay;
     9. Re-iterates, in this respect, its call to the Council to appoint an EU Special Representative for Tibetan Affairs so as to contribute effectively to the peaceful resolution of this issue
     10. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the UN Secretary General, the Chinese Government , the Governor of Sichuan Province and the Chief Prosecutor of the Sichuan Provincal People’s Procuratorate