Zhuzha (Drugdra) / 珠扎
Zhuzha (also rendered Drugdra, 珠扎) is a Tibetan monk and human rights defender serving a 14-year prison sentence. Born in 1966, he is from Suorima village, Qiujima township, Aba (Ngaba) county, in the Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan province. He was a monk of Kirti Monastery (格尔登寺).
In 2008, he was detained for taking part in peaceful petition activities by local Tibetans, and the Aba county court sentenced him to one year and four months in prison.
On November 30, 2016, police from Aba county seized him from his monastic quarters, and he lost contact with the outside world. According to prisoner-monitoring organizations, the Aba county procuratorate accused him of involvement in organizing local activities to mark the Dalai Lama's 80th birthday. On December 6, 2016, the Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture Intermediate People's Court sentenced him to 14 years' imprisonment, with the term running to November 29, 2030. Reports state that his request to hire a defense lawyer was refused. His current place of detention is not known.
The case details above come from records kept by human-rights monitoring organizations; the official verdict text has not been publicly located. With the sentence end date in the future and the last custody confirmation in 2019, he is documented as currently detained; no later independent confirmation has been found.
Key facts
- Born: 1966, Suorima village, Qiujima township, Aba county, Sichuan
- Identity: Tibetan; monk of Kirti Monastery; human rights defender
- First detention: 2008 — 1 year 4 months (peaceful petition activities)
- Latest detention: seized November 30, 2016, from his monastic quarters
- Sentencing: December 6, 2016 — 14 years; term ends November 29, 2030
- Reported charge: organizing local observance of the Dalai Lama's 80th birthday (as reported; official verdict text unavailable)
- Prison location: not disclosed
Sources
- Chinese Political Prisoner Concern (CPP Committee), “珠扎（CPPC編號：00598）”, October 2017 — https://cppc1989.blogspot.com/2017/10/cppc00598.html
- Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders, Prisoners of Conscience database, record “珠扎 / Drugdra” (entered December 18, 2019) — https://tenchu.org/pocd/public/searchpage
Not to be confused with 楞珠扎巴 (Lengdrup Draba), a singer from Biru county serving a different sentence in a different case — a different person. The transposed form 扎珠 appearing in media-image captions and the Latin rendering Drugdra refer to this person.
Further reporting, source chronology, and source verification for this case are collected in the Media Profile & Archive.