A Tibetan protester died Friday–just two days after being released from prison on “medical parole.” The Tibetan was six years into a 15-year prison term for participating in the 2008 Machu Protest, at which Chinese police opened fire and killed 12 Tibetans. The man is the second Tibetan to die after being released on “medical parole” this year.
Tenzin Choedak, who had previously served at a European NGO affiliated with the Red Cross and who worked on environmental projects in Lhasa and Shigatse, began to deteriorate in prison in early November. He was taken to three different hospitals by prison authorities before being released to his family.
“Tenchoe was brought to one of the hospitals with his hands and legs heavily shackled. He was almost unrecognizable,” one source told Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD). “His physical condition had deteriorated and he had brain injury in addition to vomiting blood.”
He died two days after his release.
Choedak died at Mentsekhang, the traditional Tibetan medical institute in Lhasa city, hours after being brought to the facility by family.
Choedak was arrested in 2008 for participating in the 2008 Machu Protest, at which police opened fire on hundreds of Tibetans, killing 12.
Choedak was sentenced to 15 years and 10,000 yuan for participating in the protest, and, according to sources, was beaten and tortured in prison.
Reportedly, police interrogations focussed on Choedak’s father, one Mr Khedup, a long-time activist in Tibet before he was compelled to flee to India in 1993. Interrogation involved claims that Choedak was acting at his father’s instigation.
Earlier this year, another Tibetan protester, Goshul Lobsang, also died on “medical parole” after being released from years of torture in prison. Lobsang had also been sentenced to 10 years for “spearheading” the 2008 Machu Protest.
Read more: Tibetan protester dies of torture after being released on “medical parole”