A Tibetan writer sentenced to 5 years imprisonmentSaturday, 21 November 2009, 2:51 p.m.

Kunga Tsangyang alias Gangnyi, a TIbetan writer sentenced to 5 years imprisonment on charges of splittist activities through his writings on Tibet in Gansu Province.

Dharamshala:
A young Tibetan writer, Kunga Tsangyang or Gangnyi, was sentenced to 5
years imprisonment on charges of splittist activities through his
writing. The sentence was given on 12 November by Tsoi-Township, Kanlho
Intermediate People’s Court, “Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture” (‘TAP’)
Gansu Province.Born in Chigdril County, Golog (“TAP”), Qinghai
Province, Tsangyang became monk in Ladrang monastery at seventeen.
Later he also studied in Beijing.He published Aura of Turquoise’s Fragile Tip (Tib: Nyen-Po Yu-Tse Zi-Pal), a periodical, and his collection of writing Hopeful Nature (Tib: Ri-nyik Pai rang-shi) was published by People’s Press in 2004.Tsangyang’s
writing and photographs are greatly admired by a large number of
readers. Besides his writing, he was a member of the Golog Ecological
and Environmental Organization and took active part in many of its
activities.Before his arrest, he was planning to establish Tibetan School for Higher Studies (Tib:Ghangjong Tho-rim Shey-rig Lob-ling).
Tsangyang had often spoken about the deterioration of the education
standard in Tibet. “The establishment of this school is one of my
life’s most important goals,” he said.His numerous works for
the Tibetan people drew suspicions from the Chinese Authorities. As a
result he was arrested around March 2009, along with, Jigme, a monk
from Labdrang Monastery.The Chinese Government has remained
silent on whether he had been given access to a lawyer or about his
trial. This clearly indicates that Tsangyang and many other Tibetans
like him do not get fair legal representations.