China/Tibet: Eight Tibetans Sentenced after March Protests

Eight Tibetans in China’s Qinghai province have been sentenced to prison.

Last Thursday, The Machen County People’s Court found six monks and two lay people guilty of inciting protests and demonstrations against the Communist regime.

According to the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, one of them was sentenced to seven years in prison. And others received sentences of between six months and four years. A Machen County official confirmed with Reuters that the Tibetans had been sentenced but says the longest term was just two years.

The eight of them had been arrested in March when protests erupted in the ethnic Tibetan town of Ragbya. The protest was sparked by the suicide of a monk who earlier had been tortured in police custody.

Chinese state media reported that almost 100 monks were detained following the Ragbya protest. Tibetan Centre says the whereabouts of two of the monks arrested are currently unknown.

(NTDTV)