By Tenziin Dharpo
DHARAMSHALA, August 27: A Tibetan man serving a ten year sentence in a Chinese prison in Xining is reported to be in extremely poor physical condition.
Washul Dotruk, 53, was sentenced to ten years in prison by a Chinese court in Huzhou near Xining in 2013 for his involvement in a self immolation protest by a Tibetan monk named Lobsang Gendun in Pema county in Golog (Guoluo) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Dec. 2012.
Dotruk was among those Tibetans who had a scuffle with the Chinese policemen trying to take the charred body of Lobsang away in a waiting police van. The Tibetans took the remains of the deceased to his monastery, Penag Kadak Troedreling Monastery in Seley Thang region of Pema County.
Dotruk was a resident of Dungda township in Pema county in Golog. He was known as a popular negotiator in resolving disputes in his community and a well respected person of his locality.
Sources said Dotruk was arrested two days after the self immolation protest by Lobsang Gendun.
Dotruk had been detained for several months in 2008 allegedly for leading Tibetan protests against the Chinese rule.
Dotruk’s father Trabum is 86, and mother Shigemu, is also in her 80s. He has 7 siblings.
Lobsang Gendun, a 29 year old monk set himself alight on December 3, 2012; he had his hands clasped in prayers as he shouted slogans while engulfed in flames. He died on the spot of his protest, a busy street in Golog Pema County.
Dotruk is currently in the third year of a ten year sentence in a prison located in the eastern part of Xining, the provincial capital of Qinghai province.
Citing a source, RFA reported that his parents were allowed to meet with him some years back, “but they are now in their 80s and have been refused permission to see him again”.
“At that time, they saw that he was very weak, and he appeared to have suffered a serious injury to his leg while in detention”, the source was quoted as saying.
Appeals for reduction in his sentence and repeated requests to meet him by his ageing parents and family members have been denied by the Chinese authorities.
