From: Tibet-Relay@gnosys.svle.ma.us
Newsgroups: soc.culture.china
Subject: Death of A Monk
Date: 7 Apr 92 07:27:00 GMT
Reply-To: tibet.info@gnosys.svle.ma.us

Original-Sender: robbieb@gn.apc.org

Tibet Information Network/News Update/5th April 1992 pt1
/2 pages

Famous Tibetan Monk Found Dead in Temple

One of the best-known Tibetan activists has been found dead in the main Temple
in Lhasa, according to sources in the Tibetan capital.

Champa Tenzin, a 49 year old monk at the Jokhang Temple, died on 22nd February
in circumstances which police have said was a suicide. Unofficial Tibetan
sources say that foul play was involved.

Champa Tenzin became famous in the west as well as in TIbet when he ran
through flames to release prisoners trapped inside a burning police station
during a pro-independence protest in Lhasa on 1st Ocotber 1987.

Although badly burned, he was later carried shoulder high around the streets
by other demonstrators, and photographs of him raising his burnt arms and
waving a white scarf in the air became a symbol of the Tibetan independence
movement.

The monk, who worked as an attendant at one of the chapels of the Jokhang
Temple, the major shrine in TIbet, was found with a rope tied around his neck.


Unofficial sources in Lhasa, alleging foul play and a cover-up by the
authorities, have released what they say are details of the monk's death.

The monk was found lying in his bed, half covered with a quilt, with blood
"all over", said the sources. One end of the rope around his neck was tied to
a leg of the bed, but the bed had not been disturbed or up-ended, say the
sources, who asked not to be named.

The account rules out hanging and suggests self-strangulation, a form of death
which medical experts in London today confirmed is extremely rare if not
impossible.

Strangulation does not lead to extensive bleeding, said one of the doctors,
who described the unofficial account, if correct, as "indicating very
suspicious circumstances".

Public Security officials in Lhasa were said to have "examined the body and on
the spot declared it to be a suicide case", said the report from Lhasa, adding
that  "they then made the head of the Jokhang Temple sign a document accepting
the decision".

"Usually a case of this kind is thoroughly investigated, inclduing friends and
relatives of the person who has died", said the report. "The Jokhang monks
should have been thoroughly questioned, and everyone's version of events taken
down, but no such action was carried out", it continued, accusing police of a
cover-up.

Champa Tenzin is not knwon to have had any history of depression. One
foreigner who knew Champa Tenzin well said today that the monk had been in
good spirits when last visited six months ago. "He invited me to come back to
his room so we could talk. He was eager to talk and I can say that he did not
seem depressed to me at all", said the westerner, who asked not to be named.

"He seemed to be the sort of activist whose strength of spirit is evident, and
once certain of the company with whom he spoke would be forthright and
unhesitant about his stand and his feelings", said the foreigner.

Champa Tenzin was "well-known to everybody, the public and the government, for
being a strong supporter for the Tibet issue", according to a source in Lhasa,
who also described him as forthright about his views.

"If he had been contacted by westerners or by a human rights delegation, he
would not have hesitated to reveal the truth about the situation here", he
said. "He was very brave and he would never commit suicide," he added.

-----

Tibet Information Network/News Update/5th April 1992 pt 2

Champa Tenzin: life story

The monk, whose name is sometmes spelt as Jampa Tenzin, was born in the Year
of the Water Sheep, or 1943 by the western calendar. He first became a monk
when he joined Muru monastery in Lhasa at the age of twelve, five years after
the 1950 ivasion of Tibet by the Chinese. He was briefly arrested after the
failure of the 1959 uprising, but was released because he was only 15 years
old.

He later described the experience of life during the Cultural Revolution
(1966-76) as being "treated like animals".

"Some of my relatives were killed during public trials and some were tortured
and beaten", he said. His mother, who died in 1981, pretended for nine years
that she was deaf and dumb in order to avoid persecution during the Cultural
Revolution.

The re-surgence of protest in Tibet came with a major demonstration in the
Tietban quarter of Lhasa on 1st October 1987. The protest began when 30 monks
were beaten by police and taken into a police station opposite the Jokhang
Temple.

A large crowd gathered, demanding the release of the monks, eventually setting
fire to the front door of the police station so they could gain entry to the
builidng. Champa Tenzin and some other monks ran into the builidng through the
flames in order to get the other prisoners out. Police opened fire as he ran
into the building, killing a monk inside and injuring others who escaped.

A British tourist who saw the demonstration described in an diary account
published later the response of the crowd, who were apparently oblivious to
police gunfire:

"The older monk and about ten to twenty monks run, to huge cheers, through the
blazing door of the builiding. About ten minutes later the older monk
re-appears having escaped through the side of the builidng and is carried on
the shoulders of the crowd in front of the police station and arround the
Barkor; hundreds of women in tears surround him; his arms are burnt seriously
with long shreds of skin hanging off but he is jubilant, although he faints
twice. He is placed on a window ledge next to me and produces a `khata', a
white silk scarf, and waves it triumphantly".

Later Champa Tenzin was taken into hiding by other TIbetans. Official doctors
were afraid to treat him, so Tibetans collected medicine and advice from
western doctors among the tourists in the city. 13 days later, convinced that
the poeple hiding him would eventually be discovered and in need of further
medical treatement, he took advantage of a partial amnesty and handed himself
over to the police.

He was held under guard in a hospital for a month before being moved to Seitru
prison in Lhasa, and was constantly questioned by police anxious to know who
had instigated the demonstration. He rejected an offer of release in return
for denouncing other people and was released from prison three months later,
in January 1988, after a senior Buddhist leader in China, the Panchen Lama,
persuaded the Chinese to release some of the demonstrators.

He remained under suspicion and seems to ahve been closely watched after his
return to the Jokhang Temple. In March 1988 he was badly beaten by police who
stormed the Temple after a major demonstration, but was one of the very few
who managed to evade arrest by hiding amongst a group of building workers. His
commitment to the independence movement remained undiminished despite his
experiences in prison, and he continued to make contact with foreign tourists
whenever it was safe to do so, in order to explain to them his view of
conditions in Tibet.

Champa's Statement on the October Demonstration

Six months ago Champa gave, in secret, a detailed description of what he felt
about the demonstration of October 1987. These quotations are taken from that
statement, which could not be published while he was alive.

"I threw stones at the Chinese police. What I did was not in violation of my
religious beliefs. I did it to save and protect others. I ran into the fire to
save others and at the same time to sacrifice myself as a protest against the
Chinese.

"When I was burnt I didnt feel anything, I was almost unconscious. When the
people picked me up I remember shouting "Tibet is independent" and "Long Live
His Holiness the Dalai Lama"; while they were carrying me on their shoulders
through the Barkor I didn't know what was happening.  Later, in hosptial, the
pain was at times excruciating; at other times it subsided. The pain should
have been of some benefit to the Tibetan people.

"All those people who took part in the demonstrations did it not for their own
advantage but for the common good of the Tibetan people.  I also took part
because I wanted to do something for the Tibetan people. Those of us who ran
inside the police station did it for the general good of the Tibetan people.

"I told them [the police] why I had taken part in the demonstration: I did it
for the independence of Tibet and because this was what the Dalai Lama had
called for. I didn't do it because I was told personally by the Dalai Lama to
do this or that. No-one had told us to demonstrate. The TIbetan cause is a
cause for truth and when you are fighting for truth you cannot wait for
someone to tell you to fight for it.

"This is what I think, and this is what I told them. And then afterwards they
said that I had to denounce other people. You are young now, you are only 45
years old, they kept saying. "If you give us other names we will release you
immediately", they said. I told them that I had no names to give and I told
them that dying does not bother me.

"So personally I went on with the struggle. To fight for the independence for
your country is the duty and the right of every individual. There is no time
for people to talk and for people to listen. There is no time now to sit and
talk  because now we live under constant fear".

He ended his statement with the words "I am convinced that truth will
prevail."

In the last week of February the body of Champa Tenzin was given a sky burial
according to Tibetan custom, on the mountainside above Sera monastery, north
of Lhasa.

--- end 5ap92 pt2 ---