Phuntsok Wangchuk
Phuntsok Wangchuk | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1973 |
| Died | 20 June 2024 (aged 50–51) New York City, U.S. |
| Nationality | Chinese |
| Education | Tibet University |
| Occupation | Activist |
Phuntsok Wangchuk (Standard Tibetan: ཕུན་ཚོགས་དབང་ཕྱུག; 1973 – 20 June 2024) was a Tibetan independence activist and political prisoner.
Biography
[edit]Born in Nedong in 1973, Wangchuk studied at Tibet University in Lhasa.[1] During his schooling, he was taught the version of Tibetan history assigned by the Chinese Communist Party, but met a Tibetan professor who taught him the true history at age 16, which led him to engage in Tibetan independence activism.[2] On 15 June 1994, he was arrested by seven Chinese police officers at 3:00 in the morning alongside one other student and two professors accused of putting up pro-independence posters in his village.[2] He was sentenced to five years in prison for campaigning for freedom and human rights in Tibet.[1] He was incarcerated at Drapchi Prison in Lhasa.[2] During his incarceration in 1998, he organized a demonstration at the prison.[1]
Upon his release, Wangchuk went into exile in India in 2000. From 2004 to 2010, he was secretary of the Political Prisoners Movement of Tibet.[1]
Phunstok Wangchuk died in New York City on 20 June 2024.[3]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d Dhundup, Tsering (25 June 2024). "Former political prisoner Phuntsok Wangchuk passes away at 51". Phayul.com. Dharamshala. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
- ^ a b c "Meet Phuntsok Wangchuk: An Interview Exercept". Tibetans in Exile Today. 25 June 2010. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
- ^ "བོད་ཀྱི་ཆབ་སྲིད་བཙོན་ཟུར་བྱ་དོར་ཕུན་ཚོགས་དབང་ཕྱུག་ལགས་ཨ་རི་ནས་འདས་གྲོངས་སུ་ཕྱིན་འདུག". Radio Free Asia (in Tibetan). 26 June 2024. Retrieved 26 June 2024.