2 young Tibetan Buddhist monks sentenced to up to 3 years in prison
DHARAMSALA, Nov 11: Lobsang Tenpa and Lobsang Gyatso, both monks of Kirti monastery in Amdo Province’s Ngaba area, who carried out lone protests on separate dates, have been sentenced to two and three years in prison respectively.
On Nov 7, Barkham County Intermediate People’s Court sentenced Lobsang Tenpa, 19 to two years in prison on charges of “separatism” and “revolting against the nation” for staging a lone protest in April this year in Ngaba County, according toTibetan sources in exile.
Wearing a hand-drawn Tibetan national flag around his head and carrying a large portrait of the Tibetan spiritual leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Lobsang Tenpa shouted slogans while protesting on the main street in Ngaba County on April 26.Within minutes of Lobsang’s solitary protest, county police on patrol in the area arrested him and took him away. His whereabouts remained unknown until his sentencing on Nov 7 where his family was allowed to attend but denied the right to hire a lawyer to defend his case.
Lobsang Tempa, a native of Village No. 2 in Meuruma Township in Ngaba County is the son of Ngagchung and Dolma Choeko. He had joined Kirti monastery at a young age and was studying in ninth standard of the monastic school at the time of his arrest.
The Barkham Intermediate People’s Court also sentenced 20-yr-old Lobsang Gyatso, another monk of Kirti monastery, to three years in prison on similar charges.
Lobsang Gyatso held a lone protest on April 2 this year on the main street of Ngaba County wearing a hand-drawn Tibetan national flag. He shouted slogans calling for “freedom in Tibet” and the “return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet”. Though Chinese police failed to arrest him on the protest day, he was later arrested from his monastery on April 15. Lobsang Gyatso’s family was notified about his trial and allowed to attend but was not allowed to hire a defense lawyer.
Lobsang Tempa is a native of Village No. 3 in Meuruma Township in Ngaba County and is the son ofBhetse and Shichung. Like Lobsang Tenpa, he had joined Kirti monastery at a young age and was studying in ninth standard of the monastic school at the time of his arrest.
