{"id":13060,"date":"2024-10-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-09T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/nieuws\/chinese-court-rules-in-favor-of-lhasa-public-security-bureau-against-gonpo-kyi\/"},"modified":"2024-10-10T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-10-09T22:00:00","slug":"chinese-court-rules-in-favor-of-lhasa-public-security-bureau-against-gonpo-kyi","status":"publish","type":"nieuws","link":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/news\/chinese-court-rules-in-favor-of-lhasa-public-security-bureau-against-gonpo-kyi\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese court rules in favor of Lhasa Public Security Bureau against Gonpo Kyi"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For more than two years, a Tibetan woman named Gonpo Kyi has been seeking the release of her falsely accused brother, Dorjee Tashi. Last month a Chinese court ruled against her, putting justice for her younger brother even further out of reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 24 September 2024, Lhasa City\u2019s Chengguan District Court dismissed all five counts of Gonpo Kyi\u2019s complaint against the district\u2019s public security bureau. Gonpo Kyi\u2019s lawsuit, filed in March 2024, primarily claimed that the ten-day detention she endured for peacefully advocating for her brother\u2019s release violated her rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gonpo Kyi, also known as Gontey (Ch: Gongde), has been actively seeking justice since June 2022 for her younger brother Dorjee (Duoji Zhaxi), who received a life sentence in 2010 after being framed as a \u201csecessionist\u201d in the<\/a> wake of the Chinese government\u2019s crackdown on mass Tibetan protests in spring 2008 and is imprisoned in the notorious Drapchi Prison. Before Gonpo Kyi began openly advocating for her brother\u2019s retrial in June 2022, she and other family members had exhausted all<\/a> remedies to seek justice by appealing to authorities in Beijing for over a decade. With no success through appeals, Gonpo Kyi began to demand justice publicly<\/a> through sit-ins in front of the Tibet Autonomous Region Higher People\u2019s Court in Lhasa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Gonpo Kyi stood outside the Tibet Autonomous Region Higher People\u2019s Court in Lhasa on 31 January 2023, holding a sign that read, \u201cTibet\u2019s higher people\u2019s court perverts the law.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gonpo\u2019s complaint<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

ICT obtained a copy of the Chengguan District Court\u2019s ruling, dated 24 September 2024. It says a case was filed on 25 March 2024, after Gonpo filed a complaint alleging unlawful actions by Chengguan District Public Security Bureau (PSB) by detaining her and violating her right to express herself. Accordingly, the court held a public hearing on 27 June 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her complaint, Gonpo claimed that the district PSB had broken the law by detaining her, that the monetary penalty on her should be withdrawn, and that a compensation of 4,368 Yuan (436.80 per day for ten days) should be given to her. Gonpo also claimed that her A4 sign and white cloth banner advocacy materials should be returned to her, and all her court expenses should be reimbursed by the district PSB.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gonpo stated that it is her right to ask for a retrial of her brother\u2019s case and that the A4 sign and white cloth banner<\/a>\u2014demanding Dorjee Tashi\u2019s lawyers have access to documents and a retrial of Dorjee\u2019s case\u2014are her personal property and the PSB\u2019s confiscation of the materials was illegal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfair verdict<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The court, in its 16-page-long verdict, ruled that the PSB\u2019s detention of Gonpo Kyi was in accordance with Chinese law, the PSB\u2019s defense that Gonpo\u2019s activism (in the form of prostration, meditation, pasting flyers, lying down on the street) hindered the work of Tibet Autonomous Region Higher People\u2019s Court is valid, the PSB\u2019s ten-day detention of Gonpo Kyi is lawful, return of confiscated materials (A4 sign and white cloth banner) is not required, and Gonpo\u2019s claim for monetary compensation is dismissed. Overall, the Chengguan District Court dismissed all of plaintiff Gonpo\u2019s allegations and supported the defenses provided by the district public security bureau against her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The comprehensive dismissal of all of Gonpo\u2019s claims underscores the difficulties individuals face when challenging actions of state security organs in the Chinese legal system, particularly in Tibet. The court\u2019s support for the public security bureau\u2019s actions reveals a low tolerance for public displays of dissent or advocacy, even when conducted peacefully and a wide latitude given to the authorities in suppressing activism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gonpo Kyi\u2019s advocacy<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Since June 2022, Gonpo Kyi has been at the forefront of persistent efforts to seek justice for her brother. Her approach evolved from appeals to authorities in Beijing over a decade to more public forms of protest, including sit-ins in front of the Tibet Autonomous Region Higher People\u2019s Court in Lhasa. Gonpo and her family members\u2019<\/a> public advocacy for Dorjee Tashi reveals a growing frustration with the lack of progress through official channels and a willingness to risk personal consequences to draw attention to her brother\u2019s case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During her public advocacy for the past several years, the PSB subjected her to beatings<\/a>, detentions<\/a>, forcible removal<\/a> from protest site and blocking<\/a> her protest from public view, and threatened multiple times with severe consequences. Gonpo\u2019s last activism was on 28 May 2024, during which she held an A4 sign demanding justice to Dorjee Tashi in front of the Higher People\u2019s Court of the Tibet Autonomous Region in Lhasa. In another video clip from the same day, she shows bruises on her arm presumably from beatings by the security officers on site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gonpo in her most recent video statement after the court\u2019s ruling is defiant of the authorities and pledges to persist in seeking justice for her younger brother. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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