§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
What representations they have made to the Chinese authorities about the death sentence passed on a Tibetan monk, Rinpoche Tenzin Delek; and whether they will draw the attention of the United Nations Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers to the procedures followed at his trial. [HL1557]
§ Baroness Symons of Vernham DeanMy honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Bill Rammell) raised the case with Assistant Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui in Beijing on 17 December 2003. He replied that Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche had had a fair and public trial and had been sentenced in accordance with Chinese law.
The latest EU demarche took place in Beijing on 4 February. In response, Mr Wang Min, Deputy Director General of the Department of International Organisations and Conferences at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche was in good health and was being held in Tuandong prison, Sichuan province.
Both we and the EU have raised Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche's case, including our concerns about his health and whereabouts, with the Chinese authorities on a number of occasions, including in our bilateral human rights dialogue.
We have not drawn the trial to the attention of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers because the UK's general policy is not to forward information to special rapporteurs on a government basis. We consider that to do so risks giving such information a political appearance which could cause problems for the rapporteur's independence and allow the target country to dismiss the allegation as politically motivated. For this reason we believe it is more productive for NGOs to take the lead in forwarding issues of concern and encouraging action.
However, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Freedom of Religion raised Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche's case with the Chinese authorities last year.