Chinese Lawyer Defends Tibetan Lama Over Framed ChargeWednesday, 22 April 2009, 11:52 a.m.

Pangrina Phurbu Tsering Rinpoche

Dharamshala: A respected Tibetan lama went on trial in a Chinese court Tuesday on weapons charges related to last year’s protests and faces a lengthy prison term if convicted, his lawyer said, The Associated Press reported Wednesday.Phurbu Tsering Rinpoche, who headed a nunnery in Karze Tibet Autonomous Prefecture (Ganzi), a predominantly Tibetan prefecture in Sichuan province, is accused of illegally possessing weapons, his Beijing-based lawyer Li Fangping told The Associated Press in a phone interview.The 52-year-old monk, whose religious name is Lobsang Tenzin Yeshi Trinley, could be imprisoned for up to 15 years if found guilty by the Ganzi Prefecture Intermediate People’s Court, Li said, adding that he was the first senior Buddhist leader to face a serious charge linked to last year’s demonstrations.Prosecutors allege that a pistol and more than 100 bullets and cartridges were found under a bed in Phurbu Tsering Rinpoche’s living room during a police raid, but the monk has denied the allegation, saying he was framed, Li said.”The charge is untenable,” Li said. “Police didn’t ask him about the source of the weapons or check for fingerprints.”Li said the monk was forced into making a confession after a police interrogation that lasted four days and threats that his wife and son would be detained if he did not comply.Li said Phurbu Tsering Rinpoche was arrested on 18 May last year just days after more than 80 nuns in the town of Ganzi held a demonstration against an official campaign to impose “patriotic re-education” on their nunneries in which they were required to denounce the Dalai Lama. The lama headed the Pangri nunnery, one of the nunneries involved in the protest.The International Campaign for Tibet, an activist group, has described Phurbu Tsering Rinpoche as a “deeply respected local figure known for his work in the community” — including the building of a center for the aged and two clinics — whose detention has aroused deep resentment among local Tibetans.The court has yet to set a date for delivering its verdict, Li said. Calls to the court rang unanswered late Tuesday.