Paris: Lhamo Tso, wife of the famous Tibetan filmmaker and political prisoner Dhondup Wangchen has been touring Europe, recently (October 03-November 03, 2010), to boost awareness of her husband's situation. Wangchen was arrested in March 2008 and sentenced on 28th December 2009 to six years in prison for "subversion". Wangchen's film, Leaving Fear Behind is a 25-minute documentary that shows Tibetans in the Amdho region expressing their views on His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, the Beijing Olympics and Chinese legislation. Wangchen managed to send his videocassettes out of Tibet before he was arrested.
Recently, while in Paris, she spoke to Reporters Without Borders stating her reasons for coming to Europe, "I mainly came to Europe for my husband's release but not only for my husband, because in Tibet there are countless Tibetan prisoners so it is also for their release. Since 2008, Tibetan political prisoners and everyone else have experienced increased torture. Including my husband over 1,000 of Tibetan people have been arrested."
"These days we don't know the whereabouts of the prisoners, whether they are alive or dead, we simply just don't know. They all did what they did for the Tibetan people without care for their own lives, just for the good of society but their families now suffer horribly through worrying about what has become of their love ones and that why I came."
"I came to Europe with the help of other people and now I am explaining to Europe that my husband is not a criminal, but a political prisoner of Tibet and innocence. For example a wife living in Tibet, whose husband is killed by the Chinese government, has to live with her suffering because she cannot talk about it to other people even though they are not criminals."
"Like a father whose son has been killed by the Chinese government, he can also not explain about his son's innocence. They have to keep their suffering with them for their whole lives. This is why I came to a free country to explain to the rest of the world the suffering people have inside Tibet," she told the international press freedom group.
"What I have learnt is that the Tibetan support groups and the world press support my husband's cause and I hope this will continue. Nowadays my husband is suffering from Hepatitis B but he has not got any treatment, so our family is very concerned about what will happen to his health in the six years he must spend in prison. He also has to work up to 17 or 18 hours a day, even a man of good health couldn't work that long," She added.
"I request that the press continue their support for my husband's quick release and also that a doctor be sent to my husband so he can receive treatment and reduce his work load."
She concluded by saying "Before I left my children they said that they believed that if Europe supports my husband's cause he may be released. Dhondup's parents, who are both over 70 years old also believe that Europe can help free my husband. So I came to Europe in the hope that Europe will support this campaign as much as I do, continuously"
