Vigil, prayer and request for a protest inquiry into the death of the Tibetan Buddhist leader – Radio Free Asia

Dharamsala, India – Friday, activists from the Tibetan youth congress protested in front of the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi after the death of the venerated Tibetan religious leader Tulku Hungkar Dorje while he was in detention in Vietnam.

In Dharamsala, dozens of Tibetan faithful worked in the streets for a prayer and a candlelit vigil.

The Tibetan government in exile called on Tuesday for an independent investigation into the death.

Human rights groups argue that Tulku Hungkar Dorje was arrested in his hotel room in Ho Chi Minh City during a joint operation by local police and Chinese government. He would have been transferred to the Chinese guard where he died mysteriously on the same day, they added.

On April 3, the Lung Ngon monastery in the county of Gade (Gande en Chinese), the prefecture of Golog, Qinghai province, published a declaration confirming that his 56 -year -old abbot, died in the Ho Chi Minh of Vietnam due to poor health.

The monastery declaration gave no other details. His disciples say he had disappeared for eight months.

“I am disturbed to learn the mysterious death of the Tibetan religious leader Tulku Hungkar Dorjee in Vietnam,” said American representative Jim McGovern in a post on X.

The Massachusetts Democrat said that the State Department “should urge Vietnam to make a complete and transparent independent investigation”.

Tulku Hungkar Dorje was a religious teacher, a philanthropist and a renowned educator. He disappeared in August 2025 after calling for public education in July for the preservation of Tibetan language and culture.

Chinese authorities prohibit the monastery and local residents to hold public commemorative services and prayers for the abbot, stressing the sensitivity of his death, three sources in the region on Radio Free Asia said on Wednesday.

The sources asked for anonymity because they feared reprisals.