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[ back ] DRAPCHI NUNS Gyaltsen Dolkar released (TCHRD) TCHRD News Brief Index: 2002/NB3 21 June 2002, Dharamsala, India: TCHRD has received confirmed information from reliable sources that Gyaltsen Dolkar, layname Dawa has been released from Drapchi Prison on 21 March 2002. She is currently at her home in Meldro Gungkar. Gyaltsen Dolkar is a 31 year-old Garu nun from Meldro Gungkar County, Lhasa City serving a 12 year-prison term. Her expected date of release was 21 August 2002. TCHRD has no additional information on the reasons behind her release. Updates will follow upon further inquiries. Gyaltsen is the third nun political prisoner to be released prior to their due date including Ngawang Choekyi and Tenzin Thupten. Unconfirmed reports indicate that Gyaltsen was meant to visit a hospital in Lhasa for treatment but has not done so. Former political prisoners have testified to TCHRD that Gyaltsen Dolkar's health condition has been precarious since an uprising in Drapchi Prison in 1998. TCHRD believes that Gyaltsen Dolkar may have been released on medical parole. With only few months away from her date of release, TCHRD is concerned that her current health condition may be precarious although nothing is confirmed to date. On 21 August 1990, a group of 16 pro-independence demonstrators, including seven nuns from Garu Nunnery eight from Michungri Nunnery and one monk from Sera initiated a demonstration disrupting a state-run opera festival. It was the first day of the weeklong Shoton (Yogurt) festival. The group shouted slogans protesting the Chinese settlers and supporting the Dalai Lama. They were immediately arrested and taken away by the PSB of Lhasa City. Gyaltsen Dolkar was one of the Garu nuns who was sentenced on 30 November 1990, for "counter-revolutionary' activities. She was sentenced to four years in prison and deprived of political rights for one year. In
June 1993, while still in prison, Gyaltsen and 13 other nuns recorded
songs and messages to their families and friends on a smuggled tape
recorder. Each nun dedicated a song or poem expressing their feelings
of hope and aspirations. When prison authorities discovered this clandestine
activity, the nuns faced severe repercussions. On 8 October 1993, the
nuns had their sentences extended ranging from five to nine years. Gyaltsen
received an eight-year extension bringing her current total sentence
to 12 years. ------ [
photo | tibetan nuns and former political prisoners passang lhamo & chuye kunsang
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