DHARAMSHALA: The Chinese government has sentenced three monks of Wonpo monastery in eastern Tibet up to four years in prison, media reports and human rights groups said, they were detained following a protest where local Tibetans pulled down a Chinese flag and threw leaflets calling for freedom last September. Wonpo Monastery is located in Wonpo village in Dzamey township of Dzachuka area in Sershul in Kardze (incorporated into China’s Sichuan Province).
The monks – Choedar, Sonam Gonpo and Sonam Choedar – were detained incommunicado since their arrests in late 2012.
Choedar, 47, was sentenced to one year in prison on 9 September 2013. He is currently being imprisoned at Ra-nga prison in Minyak region in Karze. Two monks, Kyapey, 27, and Lobsang Mithrug, 25, who were detained along with him were released with their political rights deprived for three years. They were released after their family submitted a letter promising not to indulge in “political activities.”
Sonam Gonpo and Sonam Choedar, both aged 22, were sentenced to 4 years in prison on 11 September. Four other monks – Lobsang Khedup, 22, Yigngey, 19, Lobsang Norbu, 20 and Tenzin Gedun, 24 – were released.
The monks at Wonpo monastery had steadfastly refused to hoist Chinese flags on their monastery and the ensuing crackdown led to scores of arbitrary detention, arrest and unlawful searches of Tibetan homes by Chinese security personnel, said Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, a human rights watchdog based in Dharamsala. It also quoted unnamed exile Tibetan sources as saying that Tri Lhamo, a Tibetan woman, committed suicide to protest against security forces for trampling upon His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s photos during a raid.
On 4 February 2012, local Tibetans pulled down a Chinese national flag from a government school building in Wonpo, one day after three self-immolation protests took place in the region. On 7 September 2012, local Tibetans pulled down a Chinese flag and hoisted a Tibetan flag on top of a school building in Dzachuka area. Leaflets calling for freedom were left scattered at the flag-raising site, TCHRD said.
