Report: China sentences Tibetan filmmaker to 6 years for documentary on Tibetan refugees

Xeni Jardin 10:22 am Wed Jan 6, 2010

Reports are circulating today that Tibetan filmmaker Dhondup Wangchen has been sentenced to six years in prison by the Chinese government for having produced "Leaving Fear Behind," a film about the plight of Tibetan refugees. An excerpt from that film, above. The Chinese government replaced Mr. Wangchen's attorney with a state-appointed lawyer earlier this year, a move condemned by Human Rights Watch as a "violation of China's criminal procedure law and its obligations under international human rights law, which guarantee criminal defendants the right to choose their own defense counsel and to meet with their counsel while in detention". Before he was removed from the case, Wangchen's attorney Li Dunyong said his client was tortured during interrogations, and sustained injuries that still caused him to suffer. Wangchen's wife, who lives in exile, say he has hepatitis and is that his basic medical needs are not being met in prison.

More: Tibet.net, Phayul. Background at RSF.

Previously: Tibetan documentary filmmaker faces trial in eastern Tibet for "inciting separatism."

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