Canonical name: Tsedon / 才仲
Documented variants: Tsedron; 才冬; 才珍; 慈珍; 慈卓; 次卓
Age: 20
Role: second-year Tibet University student in Lhasa
Memorial classification: death in or following detention; cause of death disputed and not independently established
Last verified: September 16, 2026
What is documented
Multiple Tibetan and human-rights sources report that Tsedon, a 20-year-old Tibetan student at Tibet University in Lhasa, was detained by police in Ritso Township, Nyemo County, on December 26, 2023. Her family was not given a clear public explanation for the detention. On January 15, 2024, the family was informed that she had died at the People’s Hospital of Nyemo County.
Reports also state that family members sought information after her detention and later asked for her body to be returned. Contemporary reporting said authorities did not release the body to the family, with a postmortem cited in some accounts. Later reporting by the International Campaign for Tibet states that no autopsy result or adequate public explanation was made available to establish the cause of death.
Official explanation reported by sources
According to Tibet Times and subsequent reporting, local police told the family that Tsedon had suddenly fallen or collapsed, could not stand again, was taken to hospital, and later died. Free China records this as the reported official explanation. We have not located a publicly available official investigative report, autopsy result, or independently reviewable evidence that establishes that explanation as the cause of death.
Family and source allegations
A source cited by Tibet Times said Tsedon had been healthy before detention and voiced suspicion that she had been beaten or tortured. Radio Free Asia and other outlets reported similar suspicions from Tibetan sources and advocates. These are allegations and suspicions, not independently established findings. Free China does not state that torture caused her death as a proven fact.
Independent-evidence status
The U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China’s 2024 Annual Report recorded that police detained the Tibetan university student (rendered there as “Tsedron”), that authorities later told the family she suddenly fell and could not stand, and that she died in hospital about two weeks later. The report described police-brutality claims as speculation rather than an established cause. In 2026, the International Campaign for Tibet included Tsedon among documented Tibetan deaths in custody and again noted the absence of a satisfactory public explanation.
Counter and archive treatment
Current-prisoner counter: excluded because Tsedon is deceased.
Death-in/due-to-detention memorial dataset: included as a verified death associated with detention, with cause classified as disputed / not independently established.
One-human rule: all documented name variants resolve to canonical person ID MEM-TSEDON-2024.