; Whereas after being detained and interrogated twice, Tenzin Delek Rinpoche fled to the mountains on June 16, 2000, leaving behind a recorded statement warning that a case against him was being fabricated and proclaiming his innocence; Whereas after a massive petitioning campaign by local people on behalf Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, Rinpoche returned on December 20, 2000, and was placed under virtual house arrest; Whereas in April 2002, the Chinese authorities arrested Tenzin Delek Rinpoche and his relative and former monk, Lobsang Dhondup, and charged them with causing explosions [and] inciting the separation of the state ; Whereas, on December 2, 2002, Tenzin Delek Rinpoche was sentenced to death with a two-year suspension and Lobsang Dhondup was sentenced to immediate death and was executed on January 26, 2003; Whereas in 2003, over 40,000 Tibetans from Tenzin Delek Rinpoche’s home regions of Lithang and Nyagchu signed a petition calling for his release; Whereas, on January 26, 2005, after intense international pressure, the death sentence of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche was commuted to a life sentence; Whereas, on April 17, 2014, the family of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche submitted a petition for Rinpoche’s early release from prison on medical parole; Whereas the People’s Republic of China ignored repeated requests by the United States and other governments to release Tenzin Delek Rinpoche from prison on medical parole; Whereas, on July 12, 2015, prison officials from the Chuandong prison informed the family of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche that Rinpoche had died in prison; Whereas, on July 13, 2015, local police and deployed military personnel shot into a crowd of thousands of Tibetans in Nyagchu who were peacefully protesting the death of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche and calling for the release of his body to his family so that Buddhist last rites could be performed; Whereas at least 24 persons were hospitalized with gunshot wounds on that occasion