Date: 26 Dec 92 01:10 PST
From: Tibet-Relay@gnosys.svle.ma.us
Newsgroups: reg.tibet
Reply-To: tibet.info@gnosys.svle.ma.us
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Subject: Protestors Get up to 9 yrs Prison
Message-Id: <790600212@gn.apc.org>
Nf-Id: #N:gn:790600212:000:8871
Nf-From: gn.UUCP!robbieb    Dec 26 01:10:00 1992
 
Original-Sender: robbieb@gn.apc.org
 
 
Tibet Information Network / 7 Beck Rd London E8 4RE  UK
ph: (+44-81) 533 5458 / fax: (+44-81) 985 4751
TIN News Update / 26 December, 1992 / total no of pages: 2+1
 
      Tibet Protestors Sentenced to up to 9 Years in Prison
 
Ten Tibetans who took part in two protests in Lhasa earlier this year have
been sentenced to an average of six years each in prison.
 
Sentences of up to nine years were handed down in trials in August and
September for protests which were peaceful and lasted only a few minutes each,
according to official Chinese court documents obtained this week by the Tibet
Information Network, an independent monitoring organisation.
 
The documents described the trials as open, but this is the first news of the
sentences to reach the outside world.
 
None of the Tibetans were accused of any other offence besides taking part in
a demonstration and shouting a pro-independence slogan. They had no lawyers to
repreent them in the trials and defended themselves, and several are known to
have been beaten or tortured.
 
Lobsang Dorje, a 20 year old monk from Phurchok Hermitage, was accused of
encouraging 2o colleagues to demonstrate outside the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa
at 4pm on 16th May 1992 and was sentenced by the Lhasa Municipal Intermediate
Court on 16th September 1992 to 9 years imprisonment.
 
The 16th May Demonstration was the fourth street protest to take place in
Lhasa that week. At least 30 people were arrested that week, but their
whereabouts remain unknown.
 
Another monk from the hermitage, situated 3 kilometres north of Lhasa, 20-year
old Lobsang Sherab, received an 8 year sentence. Two other Phurchok monks,
Lobsang Lodrup, age 20, and Thubten Kelsang, age 18, received sentences of 7
years and 6 years respectively.
 
Ngawang Tenzin, a 23 year old nun from Chubsang nunnery, and Rinchen Dawa, a
25 year old layman from Lhasa, were both described as minor offenders because
they had arrived late for the demonstration and thus followed the other four,
according to the official accounts. They were sentenced to five years each.
 
"While shouting the reactionary slogan `Tibetan Independence'... the
defendants marched to the north part of Bakuo street, where they were caught
on the spot by our police," says one document, giving details of the crime
committed by the six demonstrators.
 
In fact the incident was considerably more tense than suggested by the
official account. The detainees were beaten inside the Barkor police station
immediately after arrest, and a large, mainly silent crowd gathered outside
the building, apparently to deter further violence.
 
"At about 4.15 pm we saw hundreds of Tibetans staring at the new PSB station,
near Plaza", a Tibetan eyewitness told TIN. "I was told that there had just
been a demonstration and the demonstrators had been taken away by police. One
group had been loaded into a Public Security Bureau [PSB] van and taken away,
but a few more were still inside the PSB station. That is why people were
staring at the PSB station.
 
"Then I saw three protestors being taken away in another PSB van. Their heads
were dressed and blood was coming from their mouths and faces. These ones I
saw. On-lookers I spoke to said that the ones loaded into the other PSB van
were unconscious," said the eyewitness.
 
The protestors were held without charge for 13 weeks before they were charged
on 21st August with the crime of "counter-revolutionary propaganda", as
defined in Article 102 of the Chinese Criminal Code. The article bans the use
of "slogans, leaflets or other means propagandising for and inciting the
overthrow of the political power of the dictatorship of the proletariat and
the socialist system".
 
The sentences were imposed, according to the court, "in order to protect the
dictatorship of the proletariat, to preserve the unification of the
motherland, and to severely crack down on the criminal activities of the
counter-revolutionaries in their attempts to separate the motherland".
 
         Nuns get 5, 6 years for 3rd February Protest
 
Three nuns from Michungri nunnery, 3 km north west of Lhasa, were also given
long sentences after they staged a protest on 3rd February 1992.
 
The nuns were held for 10 weeks before they were charged, again with the crime
of spreading counter-revolutionary propaganda. Lobsang Drolma, a 22 year old
nun from Toelung Dechen, was identified as the "principal criminal" because
she had "ganged up" with two other Michungri nuns and suggested that they go
to Lhasa to demonstrate the next day. Lobsang Drolma received a sentence of 7
years.
 
The two other nuns, Thrinley Choezom, aged 18, and Phuntsog Yangkyi, aged 19,
were both treated as "minor offenders" and received 5 year sentences.
 
An 18 year old monk named Lobsang Choedrak from Nyemo Gyalche Monastery met
the nuns when they arrived in Lhasa on 2nd February. He heard about their plan
and joined their protest; he was also sentenced to 5 years.
 
Two other nuns from Michungri, Lobsang Choezom and Sherab Ngawang, were found
guilty of taking part in the protest, but no details are given of their
sentences. Sherab Ngawang, believed to be only 12 years old, was probably
convicted by a special committee for juvenile cases. She is reported to have
been still in Gutsa prison two months after the protest awaiting a sentence,
but her current whereabouts is unknown.
 
The 3rd February protest was a masterpiece of timing by the nuns: it was the
eve of Chinese New Year and as they began their 11 a.m. protest the Governor
of the Region, with the vice-mayor of Lhasa and some 15 other high officials,
was paying a New Year visit to the Barkor Police station.
 
"By the time the group of officials was leaving the PSB station, suddenly they
were faced with the demonstration, led by the nuns nad followed by the public
and by the police from the two Barkor police stations. They were virtually
fighting to arrest the demonstrators", said one unofficial account.
 
The nuns were grabbed by police, all of whom were male, and who "instantly
folded their hands on their backs and forced them away", said the account.
 
Note: Full texts of documents available from TIN.       END
 
- Names and Sentences: Demonstrators Arrested 3rd February 1992 -
 
Lobsang Drolma, layname Dawa Tsedroen? [Chinese: Dawasezhong], age 22, from
Toelung Dechen, nun at Michungri: sentenced to 7 years, to be followed by 3
years deprivation of political rights.
 
Thrinley Choezom, layname Gor-gyal? [Chinese: Guoji], age 18, from
Medrogungkar, nun at Michungri,: sentenced to 5 years, with 2 years
deprivation of political rights.
 
Phuntsog Yangkyi, layname Migzang? [Chinese: Mingzong], age 19, from Taktse,
nun at Michungri: sentenced to 5 years, with 2 years deprivation of political
rights.
 
Lobsang Choedrak, layname Thubten Norbu, age 18, from Nyemo, monk at Nyemo
Gyalche monastery: sentenced to 5 years, with 2 years deprivation of political
rights.
 
All four were detained on 3rd February, charged on 23rd April, and sentenced
on 3rd August 1992. Two others were detained on the same day but current
whereabouts are unknown:
 
Lobsang Choedren, age unknown, believed to be from Lhokha Dranang, nun at
Michungri: sentence unknown
 
Sherab Ngawang, believed to aged 12 from Medrogungkar, nun at Michungri:
sentence unknown
 
- Names and Sentences: Demonstrators Arrested 16th May 1992 -
 
Lobsang Dorje, layname Kelsang Wangdu, age 20, from Kelsang village, Songban
xiang [township], Lhundrup, monk at Phurchok Hermitage: sentenced to 9 years
with 4 years deprivation of political rights.
 
Lobsang Sherab, layname Kelsang Lhundrup, age 20, from Changye? [Chinese:
Qiangge] xiang, Lhundrup county, monk at Phurchok Hermitage: sentenced to 8
years with 3 years deprivation of political rights.
 
Lobsang Lodrup, layname Palden, age 20, from Songba [sic] xiang, Lhundrup
county, monk at Phurchok Hermitage: sentenced to 7 years with 2 years
deprivation of political rights.
 
Thubten Kelsang, layname Penba, age 18, from Village Number 6 of Kangga xiang,
Taktse county, monk at Nor? [Chinese: Luo] monastery, Taktse county: sentenced
to 6 years with 2 or 3 years [original gives both figures] deprivation of
political rights.
 
Ngawang Tenzin, layname Rinzen Wangmo, age 23, from Jorenang? [Chinese:
Qurelang] village, Retsen? [Chinese: Re Zeng] xiang, Lhundrup county, nun at
Chubsang nunnery: sentenced to 5 years with 2 years deprivation of political
rights. Named by unofficial sources as Namdrol Kunchok.
 
Rinchen Dawa, farmer, age 25, from Retsen? [Chinese: Re Zeng] xiang, Lhundrup
county, (used to live in Neighbourhood No. 3 in Lhasa): sentenced to 5 years
with 2 years deprivation of political rights.
 
The six prisoners were detained on 16th May, charged on 21st August and
sentenced on 16th September.   END
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