02. Feb 2009
Two sentenced in Kardze
(TCHRD) The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) reports that on an unspecified date in January 2009, at least one monk and a nun were sentenced at Kardze (Chin: Ganzi) County Intermediate People's Court to prison terms of four and three years respectively for staging protests in Kardze county. The Public Security Bureau (PSB) detained Ngawang Lhundup and Kel Nyima, both monks of Kardze monastery, on 09 June 2008 for demonstrating outside the Kardze county headquarters, Kardze TAP, Sichuan province. While Ngawang Lhundup's sentencing could be confirmed, the fate of Kel Nyima remains unknown. In a separate court trial in January 2009, Pema Lhamo, a nun from Kardze Gaden Choeling nunnery was sentenced to three years' imprisonment by the same court for her participation in a protest in Kardze county on 14 May 2008. She was arrested with a layperson and six other nuns from the same nunnery. There is no information on the current status and whereabouts of the seven others. TCHRD said that there were unconfirmed reports that the two were transferred to a prison near the provincial capital, Chengdu.