Kunchok Nyima (贡觉尼玛)
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Crime: Unknown
Length of Punishment: 20 years
Court: Lhasa Intermediate Court, Tibet
Trial Date: Unknown
Sentencing Date: Unknown date in 2010
Dates of Detention/Arrest/Indictment: Forcibly disappeared in 2008, exact date of criminal detention, arrest, and indictment unknown
Place of Incarceration: Unknown
Kunchok Nyima is a Tibetan monk and scholar from the Drepung Monastery. The Lhasa Intermediate Court sentenced him to 20 years in prison in 2010 in connection with a peaceful protest in 2008 by monks from his monastery. The exact charges remain unknown, but the court reportedly accused him of “inciting” other monks from Drepung Monastery to protest and being the “ring leader” of protests in Lhasa. Chinese authorities forcibly disappeared him during widespread protests across Tibet in 2008; those marked the 49th anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising against China’s invasion of Tibet. Kunchok Nyima’s whereabouts and condition remain unknown; as far as CHRD is aware his family members have never been given such information.
A former student of his told the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in 2013,
“The sentencing and disappearing of Venerable Kunchok Nyima, who was a highly accomplished Buddhist master with thousands of disciples, is an attack on the core of living Tibetan culture, religion, language and identity.”
Further information
“China: End Long-Term Imprisonment of Human Rights Defenders”, CHRD, December 9, 2025[F1]
