By Phuntsok Yangchen
DHARAMSHALA, August 1: Tibetans and supporters today marked seven years since the arrest of Rungye Adrak, a Tibetan nomad who openly expressed loyalty to the Dalai Lama in front of a huge crowd during a popular horse racing festival in Lithang in 2007.
Activists from the Students for a Free Tibet, India, reenacted Rungye Adrak’s action of August 1 at McLeod Ganj Square today to mark the day.
“We wanted to recreate Rungye Adrak’s protest through the medium of street theatre and pay tribute to the incredibly courageous speech he made to voice the grievances of the Tibetans people. He is a true hero and he doesn’t deserve to be in prison,” said Jyotsna Sarah George, Campaigns Director of Students for a Free Tibet, India. “He is now in very poor health. We call for his immediate release.”
Rungye Adrak, then 52, went on to the stage at the Lithang horse racing festival and made a bold, impromptu speech in front of Chinese officials and thousands of Tibetans calling for the return of the Dalai Lama and release of the XIth Panchen Lama Gendhun Choekyi Nyima and Tulku Tenzin Delek in 2007.
Less than a minute into his speech, he was arrested and was later sentenced to eight years in prison on charges of “inciting to split the country” and for “severely disrupting public order.”
“He began by asking fellow Tibetans to stop getting into petty fights among themselves for land and gathering yartsa gunbo, and asked all Tibetans to unite. And when he had the full attention of the crowd he asked whether they want His Holiness the Dalai Lama to return to Tibet. The audience that consisted mostly of nomads responded in unison that they all want their leader to return to Tibet. And everybody cheered, clapping and whistling,” said Rungye Jamyang, Adrak’s son.
Adrak is a father of eleven leading a simple nomadic life before turning the protest. Rungyal Adrak is a native of Yonru Khashi Village, Ponkhog in Lithang in eastern Tibet.
Rungye Adrak completes seven years behind bars today and is expected to be free next year. He is currently serving his sentence at Mianyang Prison in Sichuan Province and believed to be in poor health.
