Once considered the richest man in Tibet, Dorjee Tashi has already served 14 years in detention after a court in Lhasa, Tibet\u2019s capital, sentenced him to life in prison for \u201cloan fraud.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a clear miscarriage of justice, the then-successful businessman was convicted after attempts to frame him as a \u201csecessionist\u201d failed. Dorjee was arrested in July 2008 in the wake of mass Tibetan protests that spring and subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment in 2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hoping to secure his release by maintaining a low profile, Dorjee\u2019s family quietly persevered for over a decade through China\u2019s judicial mechanisms. Unable to find justice in the judicial system and seeing no action taken against corrupt officials despite their petitioning the Communist Party\u2019s Central Commission on Discipline Inspection (CCDI), the family members have in recent months launched an open advocacy campaign for justice for Dorjee Tashi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United States and the European Union also raised the arbitrary detention of Dorjee Tashi. In its statement<\/a> during the recently concluded 51st session (12 September to 7 October, 2022) of the UN Human Rights Council, the European Union called for the immediate and unconditional release of, among others, Dorjee Tashi. The United States recognized the detention of Dorjee Tashi in its 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chinese leader Xi Jinping in his work report to the 20th Party Congress declared that \u201cwe have used a combination of measures to \u2018take out tigers,\u2019 \u2018swat flies,\u2019 and \u2018hunt down foxes,\u2019 punishing corrupt officials of all types.\u201d However, substantial corruption cases have rarely been addressed in Tibet other than for political or factional purposes and signaling. Despite Dorjee and his family pinpointing the network of corrupt authorities who framed Dorjee, tortured him and misused the judicial system to falsely convict him, impunity trumped over justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In his speech, Xi recognized corruption as a \u201cdeep-seated problem\u201d and eradicating corruption an \u201carduous task.\u201d He went on to state that \u201cwe will come down hard on corruption that involves both political and economic elements, resolutely prevent leading officials from acting for any interest group or power group, and crack down on any collusion between officials and businesspeople \u2026 There must be no mercy for corruption.\u201d But these are grandiose words with little meaning unless real actions are taken. In the same speech on selecting and appointing officials, Xi went on to state that that \u201cwe will take political commitment as the primary criterion for selection and carry out solid vetting of officials\u2019 political commitment \u2026 to ensure that they are politically reliable and corruption-free.\u201d The contradiction between eradicating corruption and appointing officials with political commitment as the primary criterion explains the impunity trumping over justice then and now. And Dorjee Tashi\u2019s case is the classic example. Dorjee Tashi was a successful businessman with membership in the Chinese Communist Party. At 34, he was the proprietor of a luxury hotel chain and real estate companies in Tibet before his arrest in July 2008. The government of the Tibet Autonomous Region, which spans about half of Tibet, the government of Kanlho (Chinese: Gannan) prefecture and the Shigatse (Rikaze) Communist Youth League praised his philanthropy and social welfare projects as an outstanding contribution to poverty alleviation and economic development in Tibet. But his wealth also attracted spiteful and vindictive corrupt leaders who went on to destroy him through their leverage in the Chinese political system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For not entertaining requests for personal villas and other financial favors, spiteful corrupt leaders in the Tibet Autonomous Region framed Dorjee as a \u201csecessionist\u201d in the wake of March 2008 pan-Tibet mass protests against China\u2019s rule in Tibet. For alleged covert support to the Tibetan protesters and political connections with the exile Tibetan community, Dorjee was arrested in July 2008. When Dorjee denied any political involvement, even as he was being tortured\u2014as stated in his personal testimony<\/a> obtained by the International Campaign for Tibet\u2014political allegations were dropped during the pretrial interrogation, which, in an unusual move, was led by officers from China\u2019s Ministry of Public Security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Dorjee was indicted for \u201cloan fraud\u201d and sentenced to life in prison with deprivation of political rights for life by the Lhasa Intermediate People\u2019s Court in July 2010. The court of second instance, the Tibet Autonomous Region Higher People\u2019s Court, upheld the lower court\u2019s verdict two months later. In separate hearings, his elder brother Dorjee Tseten was sentenced to six years in prison and his relatives Dhugkar Tsering and Tsultrim were given five- and two-year prison terms respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A committee of six high-profile Chinese legal experts in their expert opinion<\/a> in October 2018 concluded that Dorjee was wrongfully convicted for \u201cloan fraud\u201d and therefore it was an injustice to him to have to serve life in prison. However, that expert opinion did not help in the family\u2019s decade-long quest for a just retrial. Making the matter worse, human rights lawyers in Beijing had been barred from pursuing Dorjee\u2019s case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dorjee Tashi\u2019s family, in their long quest for justice, have run from pillar to post in Beijing\u2019s legal and political corridor, but to no avail. Frustrated with finding no avenue for justice in China\u2019s political and legal system despite providing factual and legal evidence proving Dorjee\u2019s innocence, the family turned toward open advocacy in the hope of finding justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/dorjee--546x890.jpg\")
Corruption<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Brother\u2019s open letter to the authorities<\/h4>\n\n\n\n