Dharamshala — Four Tibetan NGOs based in Dharamshala organised a candlelight vigil for Hungkar Dorje Rinpoche, to express their solidarity with Tibetans inside Tibet, who are not allowed to make offerings for Rinpoche's death in his monastery. The Tibetans also demanded justice for Rinpoche from Vietnam and Chinese government.
Tibetan Youth Congress, Students for a Free Tibet, Tibetan Women's Association and National Democratic Party of Tibet organised a candlelight vigil for Hungkar Dorje Rinpoche, who was murdered by Chinese agents while in Chinese custody in Vietnam on March 29, 2025.
Around a hundred Tibetans from Dharamshala joined the candlelight vigil and began marching from the main square of Mcleod Ganj, holding a large photo of Hungkar Dorje Rinpoche, the Tibetan national flag and candles, to the Tibetan National Martyrs Memorial near Tsuglagkhang, the main Tibetan temple, in Dharamshala, HP, India.
They also held up banners that read: “Justice for Hungkar Dorje Rinpoche”, “Return Hungkar Dorje Rinpoche's body now”, “Free the body, reveal the truth”, “We demand a transparent and fair investigation”, “Hungkar Dorje Rinpoche is a victim of Chinese occupation”, etc.
Tsering Dolma, President of the Tibetan Women's Association (TWA), addressed the gathering at the site of the Tibetan National Martyrs Memorial and explained that the candlelight vigil was for Hungkar Dorje Rinpoche. She also reported that they had made offerings for him in the morning at Gaden Choling Nunnery on Mcleod Ganj and they submitted a letter to Vietnam Embassy in New Delhi, India, to investigate the sudden and mysterious death of Hungkar Dorje Rinpoche in their country.
Ju Tenkjong, director of the Amnye Machen Institute, addressed the assembly and introduced Hungkar Dorje Rinpoche.
Hungkar Dorje Rinpoche disappeared in September 2024, after Chinese authorities from the Qinghai Provincial Police Department interrogated him about his composition of a long-life prayer for His Holiness the Dalai Lama and accused him of failing to implement Chinese government education policies in his Golok schools. At the end of September 2024, he fled to Vietnam and lived there until March 25, 2025, under difficult circumstances. Sadly, Rinpoche died on March 29, 2025 in Vietnam, after being arrested by Vietnamese police and Chinese agents after March 25, 2025.
According to reliable sources, Tibetan monks and lay people at Lungngon Thubten Choekhor Ling Monastery, the monastery of Hungkar Dorje Rinpoche, were not allowed to make offerings for Rinpoche after his sudden and mysterious death on March 29, 2025. Representative Monks from Lungngon Monastery went to Vietnam for his body, but they were not allowed to see Rinpoche’s body and refuse to return his body to the representatives of the his Monastery.
The Central Tibetan Administration, Tibetans in Tibet and in exile, Tibetan NGOs and Human Rights Watch called on the Vietnamese government to investigate the sudden and mysterious death of Hungkar Dorje Rinpoche, in Chinese custody in Vietnam on March 29, 2025. They also demanded justice for Hungkar Dorje Rinpoche, and the return of his body, as well as allow make offering to him in his monastery.
