Sehr geehr­ter Herr Präsident!

Wir schrei­ben Ihnen in Ver­tre­tung von tibe­ti­schen Flücht­lin­gen und Tibet-Supportern, die in der Schweiz leben. Wir bit­ten Sie, dass Sie wäh­rend Ihres China-Besuchs Tibet zu einem wich­ti­gen Thema machen werden…

Hier der eng­li­sche Ver­sion des Brie­fes an Obama:

The White House
1600 Penn­syl­va­nia Ave­nue NW
Washing­ton, DC 20500
U.S.A.

Zurich, 6th Novem­ber 2009

Dear Mr. President

We are wri­t­ing to you as rep­re­sen­ta­ti­ves of Tibe­tan refu­gees and Tibet sup­por­ters living in Switz­er­land, reques­ting that you make Tibet a signi­fi­cant topic on the agenda during your visit to China in Novem­ber. In par­ti­cu­lar we ask you to exert pres­sure on the Chi­nese govern­ment to release Dhon­dup Wang­chen, a Tibe­tan film-maker arres­ted in 2008 for peace­fully exer­cising his right to free­dom of expression.

Dhon­dup Wang­chen [Chi­nese: Dunzhu Wang­qin] was detai­ned in Tibet on 26 March 2008 for filming inter­views with ordi­nary Tibe­tans about their views on the Olym­pic Games, the Dalai Lama and Chi­nese govern­ment poli­cies in Tibet. The film foo­tage was smugg­led out of Tibet and inte­gra­ted into the docu­men­tary film “Lea­ving Fear Behind”, which gives a rare glim­pse into the rea­lity of Tibe­tans living under Chi­nese occupa­tion. The film has been scree­ned in over 30 coun­tries and can also be seen online at http://​www​.lea​ving​fe​ar​be​hind​.com.)

Accor­ding to infor­ma­tion pro­vi­ded by offi­cial sour­ces, Dhon­dup Wang­chen was arres­ted in July 2008 under sus­pi­cion of “incit­ing sepa­ra­tism” and was for­mally char­ged in June 2009. It is belie­ved that Dhon­dup Wangchen’s trial has star­ted. His family recently recei­ved a let­ter from Dhon­dup Wang­chen, which was smugg­led out of pri­son, and which reads:“A few days ago I had a ter­ri­ble night­mare and I strugg­led with the thought that some­thing ter­ri­ble has hap­pened at home. I am worried about my aged father and mother. I am very much worried. Would it be pos­si­ble to inform me about their situa­tion? Please be frank with me. With regard to my situa­tion there is no need to worry. I will face my fate. While I am aware that a release will be very dif­fi­cult and I may remain here for a lon­ger period there is a fee­ling that I have fai­led to be a more caring son for my par­ents. My trial has star­ted. There is no good news that I can share with you. It is unclear what my sen­tence will be.”

Addi­tio­nally, China recently told a for­eign govern­ment that the case was “now under judi­ci­al­pro­cee­dings”. If con­vic­ted, Dhon­dup Wang­chen may face a lengthy sen­tence. China has denied initial appeals for obser­vers to attend Dhondup’s trial. This rai­ses acute con­cerns that Dhon­dup Wangchen’s trial is taking place in secret. In addi­tion he has been denied access to his family’s choice of lawyer, Li Dun­yong, from the Bei­jing Gongxin law firm.

Fur­ther fears that Dhon­dup Wang­chen may not receive a fair and open trial were rai­sed with the news that up to four Tibe­tans were exe­cu­ted in Lhasa on 20 Octo­ber 2009. These Tibe­tans were invol­ved in the pro­tests that swept Tibet last spring. Their exe­cu­ti­ons are belie­ved to be poli­ti­cally moti­va­ted and it seems those con­vic­ted were not per­mit­ted a fair judi­cial process.

In Switz­er­land, we have been infor­med that Mrs. Widmer-Schlumpf — the Swiss Justice Minis­ter and mem­ber of the Swiss Federal Coun­cil — addres­sed Dhon­dup Wangchen’s case during her recent visit to China at the end of Octo­ber 2009.

We the­re­fore believe that now is a cri­ti­cal time for all govern­ments to pre­sent a uni­fied front pres­su­ri­zing China to release Dhon­dup Wang­chen and all poli­ti­cal pri­soners, and to call on the Chi­nese lea­ders to initiate judi­cial pro­ces­ses which will allow fair and open tri­als. It is espe­cially your voice, Mr. Pre­si­dent, that needs to be heard now and that can lead the way for other govern­ments to engage them­sel­ves for the release of Dhon­dup Wang­chen and the impro­ve­ment of human rights situa­tion in Tibet and China in general.

The­re­fore, we request that you

1. call on the Chi­nese lea­dership to imme­dia­tely release Dhon­dup Wang­chen, as his only “crime” was to peace­fully exer­cise his right to free­dom of expres­sion, as gua­ran­teed under the Uni­ver­sal Decla­ra­tion of Human Rights.

2. demand full infor­ma­tion per­tai­ning to Dhon­dup Wangchen’s case, inclu­ding the char­ges he faces and the sta­tus of his trial as well as about his health.

3. ask for per­mis­sion to send obser­vers to his trial, to ensure that Dhon­dup Wang­chen recei­ves a full and open trial as is gua­ran­teed under China’s con­sti­tu­tion, and that he is allo­wed legal coun­sel of his own choosing.

4. call on the Chi­nese govern­ment to enter into a genuine dia­lo­gue with the rep­re­sen­ta­ti­ves of H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama wit­hout preconditions.

Yours sin­ce­rely
Swiss-Tibetan Fri­endship Asso­cia­tion (STFA)
Tibe­tan Womanʼs Orga­ni­sa­tion in Switz­er­land (TWOS)
Tibe­tan Youth Asso­cia­tion in Europe (TYAE)