Gonmo Kyi restarts protest calling for her brother’s fair trial
Sister of the prominent Tibetan prisoner Dorjee Tashi continues protest after release from detention
Tibet Watch has learned that Gonmo Kyi, sister of the high-profile Tibetan political prisoner Dorjee Tashi, staged a peaceful sit-in protest on 20 February in front of the Tibet Higher People’s Court in Lhasa, calling for her brother’s fair trial.
The protest comes two months after Gonmo and her husband, Choekyong, were released after being arbitrarily detained for their protests for the same reason.
The pair continues to record and share videos of their fight for justice on social media- a rare and risky undertaking for Tibetans inside Tibet given the heightened surveillance placed on all activities on the internet, and the police having already beaten them in their previous protests.
In the most recent video, Gonmo is seen sitting in front of the entrance gate of the Tibet Higher People’s Court holding up a paper that says “Dorjee Tashi is innocent!”, and a portrait of Xi Jinping in her lap.
Recording from the site of the protest from his phone, the source explains: “This is Tibet Higher People’s Court. It is the 11th day of the first month [according to the Tibetan lunar calendar], and the 20th of February. ” He then says that the court authorities rejected Gonmo’s request for a fair trial and to visit her brother in prison.
“Dorjee Tashi has been beaten in jail by fellow prisoners yet details of the incident as well as his condition are yet to be ascertained. It has certainly remained difficult to [know] why he was beaten and about those who have beaten him,” a source told Tibet Watch.
Gonmo Kyi has been appealing to see her imprisoned brother, Dorjee Tashi, and for him to be given a retrial. Dorjee Tashi was arrested in 2008 and charged with loan fraud. His family and those following his case vigorously contest these charges and he is widely regarded as being a political prisoner.
Following the rejection of multiple appeals by Dorjee Tashi’s family to retry his case, since June 2022, Gonmo Kyi has staged a series of protests with her husband in front of the Tibet Higher People’s Court. The police have blocked these protests from public view whilst censoring all photos, videos or information of Gonmo Kyi’s protests from the Internet.
During Gonmo Kyi’s first detention in March last year, the police subjected her to beatings. However, she held another protest in August during which she was dragged and beaten in front of the court, leaving her in need of hospital treatment, which was denied to her.
Dorjee Tashi still remains in prison and has been subjected to beatings and extreme torture including asphyxiation, being suspended handcuffed from the ceiling, and pouring into his nose heated fluid with chili powder.