April 4, 2014

China sentences two Tibetan village leaders to 10 years' imprisonment in Diru County



 Vijyender Sharma

DHARMSHALA------Chinese authorities have sentenced in secret two Tibetan village leaders to 10 years in prison in the restive Diru (Ch; Biru) County in Nagchu (Ch: Naqu) Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), in the Tibetan province of Kham.

 

Both men Ngangtak, 54, and Rigsal, 31 were sentenced  for allegedly failing to fulfill their duties as villager leaders and in the case of Ngangtak, for instigating fellow villagers against the Chinese authorities. They were village leaders in Mokhyim Village in Diru County.

 

A source with contacts in Tibet told Dharmshala based Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy that both men were detained and disappeared on 24 November 2013. Their whereabouts and condition continue to remain unknown to their family and friends. The exact charges for which they were sentenced are not known.

 

Family members of both men were not informed about the detention and subsequent sentencing. News of their sentencing became known through unnamed sources in Diru County Public Security Bureau (PSB) office.

 

Quoting local Tibetans in the area, the source told Dharmshala based TCHRD that both men were punished for failing to suppress protests that erupted in Mokhyim last year after local Tibetans defied official orders to hoist five-starred Chinese flags on their rooftops. Residents of Mokhyim Village also took part in a protest last year in Diru County town when about 1,000 Tibetans from different villages of Diru County assembled to protest China's “mass line” campaign. Mokhyim villagers also protested against the recent closure of Drong Na Monastery in which many monks were arbitrarily detained and some were sentenced in secret. Ngangtak was accused of holding of a secret political meeting with 17 others at his home last year. 


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**VijyenderSharma*, Press Correspondent Bohan Dehra Road  JAWALAMUKHI-176031, Kangra HP(INDIA)*
 
Contact Number is  09736276343Mobile





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