04 February 2008
Tibetan abbot jailed for "inciting masses"
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) reports that Khenpo Jinpa, 37, the abbot of Chogtsang Talung monastery in Sichuan province (Kham), has been jailed for three years on charges of "endangering national security by inciting the masses". According to TCHRD, the sentence was pronounced in July 2007. Police reportedly detained Khenpo Jinpa in August 2006 on suspicion of distributing leaflets calling for Tibet's independence and the Dalai Lama's long life at a festival the previous year. Khenpo Jinpa had joined the Serthar Buddhist Institute in 1992. The institute was founded by the late Khenpo Jigme Phuntsog with support of the Panchen Lama. In 2001, it was partly destroyed by paramilitary police and the authorities imposed a ceiling on the number of monks.