De kinesiske myndigheder fortsætter med at slå hårdt ned på demonstranter, der ønsker frihed og selvbestemmelse for Tibet og flere meldes dræbt – foreløbig har 35 tibetanere brændt sig selv til døde siden februar 2009.
A court in China’s southwestern Sichuan province has sentenced a Tibetan who participated in a January protest against Chinese rule to life in prison and handed terms of varying length to 15 other protesters, Tibetan sources said Friday according to Radio Free Asia.
The January 23 protest in the Draggo (in Chinese, Luhuo) county center in Sichuan’s Kardze (in Chinese, Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture began peacefully but ended in gunfire as hundreds of Tibetans called for freedom for Tibet and the return of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
At least two, and as many as six, protesters were believed killed when Chinese police opened fire on the crowd, Tibetan sources in the region and in exile said.
“Since the Tibetan protest in Draggo county on Jan. 23 for the restoration of Tibetan freedom, the Chinese crackdown on Tibetans in the area and detentions have been continuing without end,” an India-based monk said, speaking on condition of anonymity and citing sources with contacts in the region.
“On April 26, 16 Tibetans who were involved in the January protest in Draggo were sentenced to jail terms of varying lengths,” he said, adding that one man, Sonam Lhundrub, had been given a life term.
No explanation was given for the greater severity of the sentence handed to Sonam Lundrub, and details of the charges made against him and the others were not immediately available.
Chinese authorities have expelled over 30 young monks from Draggo monastery and have ordered that no monks below the age of 14 be allowed to remain. The authorities also launched a re-education campaign in the area, but Tibetans in the area clearly demonstrated their resentment by smashing police vehicles.
Sichuan has been the scene of most of the 35 Tibetan self-immolation protests against Chinese rule that have taken place since February 2009.
These have resulted in a major security crackdown in the province and in two other Tibetan-populated provinces, Qinghai and Gansu, as well as in the Tibet Autonomous Region.
