Pema Tsepak

Tibetan youth beaten and tortured in custody

Compiled February 2009
All credits: Radio Free Asia
Any news updates on this case will be listed at the foot of this item

A Tibetan youth detained for his role in a non-violent protest was beaten to death by police, Tibetan sources say. Pema Tsepak, 24, a resident of Punda town in the Dzogang county of Tibet’s Chamdo prefecture, had been held in police custody for his role in a demonstration against Chinese rule in Tsawa Dzogang.

A Tibetan who would not give his name, but said he was from Punda town, said Chinese authorities were trying to cover up the circumstances of Pema Tsepak’s death. “Chinese officials said he jumped off a building, but we believe he was beaten to death and then thrown off the building,” the man said.

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Tibetans in exile, originally residents of the same area, said that contacts there had informed them of the incident. Namgyal Tsering, a Tibetan living in Delhi, India, said in an interview that Pema Tsepak had been hospitalized following mistreatment at the hands of his captors. “He was so severely beaten that his kidneys and intestines were badly damaged. He was initially taken to Dzogang [county] hospital, but they could not treat him, and they took him to Chamdo hospital instead,” Tsering said.

Another Tibetan, who did not give his name, said he saw Pema Tsepak in handcuffs as authorities brought him to Dzogang county hospital to treat his injuries. Nyima Norbu, a Tibetan living in Dharamsala, India, seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile, said that local officials had confirmed Pema Tsepak’s death. “Chinese police informed Dzogang officials that Pema Tsepak had died in Chamdo and that his body will be cremated there,” Nyima Norbu, also a Dzogang native, said.

Jamyang, the brother of a Tibetan official from Punda town where Pema Tsepak lived, said that one family member of each of the three detainees had travelled to Dzogang to visit with them. They were told upon arrival that the detainees had been moved to Chamdo. “Only one person could go to visit them in Chamdo. Finally Lobsang Jampa, the elder brother of Pema Tsepak, was taken there.

When he reached Chamdo, he was informed that his brother Pema Tsepak had jumped from the top of a building and died,” Jamyang said, in an interview from Canada. Calls seeking comment from police in Chamdo went unanswered.

Jamyang said that while Lobsang Jampa travelled to Chamdo, a convoy of 18 vehicles, including army trucks carrying soldiers and officials, arrived in Punda town and began searching the homes of the detainees. “They searched the homes of the [detainees] and took away photos of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. When officials reached Pema Tsepak’s home, they informed his family members of his death. They said that Pema Tsepak had attacked a police officer with a knife and then jumped from the window of the building and died,” Jamyang said.

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