Write to Bangri Rinpoche

Bangri Tsamtrul Chongtrul Rinpoche  བང་རི་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་

Respected Tibetan community leader serving a 19-year prison term for “attempting to split the country and destroy national unity.”

Bangri Rinpoche and his wife Nyima Choedron founded Gyatso orphanage in Lhasa working with some of the city’s most deprived children. In 1999 they were arrested and charged with “attempting to split the country” after a Tibetan worker from the orphanage was arrested for trying to raise a Tibetan flag and allegedly attempting to explode a bomb in the Potala Square during the National Minority Games. Chinese authorities declared the orphanage an “illegal organization” and it was closed, leaving the children, aged between two months and 12 years, without a home.

Bangri Rinpoche was sentenced to life in prison, later commuted to 19 then 18 years. Nyima Choedron was sentenced to 10 years’, later reduced to seven. She was released in 2006.

Bangri Rinpoche is believed to have been subjected to severe forms of torture including repeated interrogation sessions, restraining with one hand behind his shoulder and the other around his waist and having his legs fettered.

SEND A SOLIDARITY MESSAGE TO:

Bangri Tsamtrul Rinpoche བང་རི་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་
Chushul Prison
Chushul County
Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, 850000
People’s Republic of China

In Chinese:
Bangri Tsamtrul Rinpoche | བང་རི་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་ | 晋美旦增尼玛
曲水监狱, 西藏自治区,拉萨市
曲水县,沿河路, 850000, 中国
DOWNLOAD ADDRESSES

Language: English, Tibetan or in your own language

Salutation: Dear Bangri Rinpoche la

Sample Message:

Dear Bangri Rinpoche la
I’m writing to you from [ADD YOUR COUNTRY]. Please know that I and many others around the world are thinking of you and hope very much for you release.

Let Us Know: Please let us know that you wrote to a Tibetan Hero at http://bit.ly/WriteTibetResponse

IMPORTANT NOTE: Avoid talking about politics, and definitely do not write about Tibetan freedom or independence. It is highly probable that your letter will be read by the authorities before it reaches the prisoner. Please use common sense when composing your text and don’t say anything that could put her/him at risk.