Patrick Leahy: “I regret that I must again bring to the Senate's attention the situation of imprisoned Tibetan music and dance scholar…”

“I regret that I must again bring to the Senate's attention the situation of imprisoned Tibetan music and dance scholar, Ngawang Choephel. I had hoped that Chinese authorities would have recognized by now the grave mistake they made in sentencing him to 18 years in prison. In 1995, Mr. Choephel was in Tibet making a documentary film of traditional Tibetan music and dance when he was detained by Chinese authorities. After being held incommunicado for 15 months without access to his family or independent legal counsel, Mr. Choephel was sentenced to 18 years in prison for violating the State Security Law. It was insinuated that he was paid by the U.S. Government to spy on behalf of the Dalai Lama. No evidence to support such a claim has ever been produced. The 16 hours of film Mr. Choephel sent to India during the first weeks of his project simply contain footage of the traditional music and dance he said he had gone to document. Persistent inquiries to Chinese authorities regarding Mr. Choephel's whereabouts and the condition of his health have produced little information. I wrote to the head of the Chinese Communist Party soon after Mr. Choephel's detention and received no reply. I raised his case personally in meetings with President Jiang Zemin and other Chinese officials last November in Beijing and received no reply. I have written to President Jiang since then to urge his personal intervention in this case and received no reply.”