After joining a peaceful demonstration on May 12, 1993, in Lhasa, Thopchoo was arrested and sentenced to 5 years imprisonment. He was 20 years old at that time. The Chinese authorities sent him to the Gutsa prison where he suffered from malnutrition, humiliation and severe beatings.

“They often beat me on the head with metal batons and used electric devices to torture me until I fainted. I never acknowledged that Tibet was a part of China and did not deny His Holiness the Dalai Lama. I never gave up,” declares this calm and tall Tibetan.

While in prison, all inmates had blood forcibly removed once a month. Political captives would have much more taken than other prisoners, leaving them numb and listless.

On 1st of May 1998, the guards forced him and his 350 political prisoners inmates to honor the Chinese flag. Refusing to obey, three men where shot. Thopchoo was sent to a solitary confinement cell that was only about 4.5 m2. The guards would pour water on the cell floor to add discomfort. It would eventually freeze. He was isolated, in complete darkness, for one month. After his release, he lived in Lhasa for more than 10 years, earning money from small jobs before escaping to India in 2009.

“I feel free here, but whatever I do, wherever I go, I remember that I have no country. Sometimes I have nightmares… I will never forget what they did to me.”

Thopchoo now lives in Dharamsala and is studying at the Gu-Chu-Sum school (Tibetan, English and basic informatics).
The Gu-Chu-Sum Movement of Tibet was established in 1991 by former Tibetan political prisoners who have fled into exile. The movement’s aim is to increase awareness about the actual situation in Tibet and to look after the welfare of former political prisoners and their relatives providing medical, psychological and financial support.

As many Tibetan refugees, his deepest fear is the passing of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. “What will happen to us? Will India still accept our presence? Our future is more than uncertain…”