Dharamshala: - Two Tibetan monks have been sentenced to imprisonment for protesting against the seizure of their monastery's land by the Chinese government in Jomda region in Chamdo in eastern Tibet's Kham Province, a human rights organisation based in Dharamsala said.
A local Chinese court has sentenced the two monks, Trulku Jangchub and Pesang from Jophu Monastery, to three years and two and half years in prison respectively in March this year, the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) said in a press release on 2 May.
Trulku Jangchub, 25, was arrested for his role in leading a protest against the Chinese authorities for taking Jophu monastery's compound under their control on the pretext of developing the area in December 2009. During the protest, the monks and the local people demanded that the place belonged to the monastery and it should remain with it, TCHRD said quoting a source.
Pesang, who was arrested in January 2011 and held in detention in Jomda, would be soon transferred to Powo Tramo Prison, the source said.
Trulku Jangchub is currently in hospital as he was tortured in the prison.
Since 10 March 2008, Tibetans living across Tibet held peaceful protests against the People's Republic of China's oppression in Tibet. The Tibetans made unprecedented calls for the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet and fundamental human rights for Tibetans living inside Tibet.
The brutal crackdown by the Chinese government that ensued left an estimated 227 Tibetans dead, over 6810 arrested and 510 sentenced.
"The deaths were caused due to indiscriminate firing by the PRC forces during the demonstrations; severe beatings and torture of detainees during arrest, interrogation and detention; and a built-up of insurmountable repression and suppression that drove some Tibetans to commit suicide," noted a comprehensive report on the 2008 uprising in Tibet published last year by the UN, EU and Human Rights Desk of the CTA's Department of Information & International Relations. (2008 Uprising In Tibet: Chronology And Analysis)
"A total of seven Tibetans have been sentenced to death, out of which two with immediate death sentence were subsequently executed and five are currently facing suspended death sentence or death sentence with a two-year reprieve. Lobsang Gyaltsen and Loyak, both 25-year-old, were executed on 20 October 2009. The other five facing suspended death sentences are Tenzin Phuntsok, 27; Kangtsuk, 22; Penkyi, 21; Pema Yeshi, 28; and 23-year-old Sonam Tsering. The judicial process was devoid of fair trial and independent legal representation," the report said.
