Chabcha student protesters sentenced up to four years

Eight Tibetan students have been sentenced to varying prison terms for “illegally holding demonstration” last year by the Chabcha (Ch: Gonghe) County People’s Court in Chabcha County in Tsolho (Ch: Hainan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, according to a report published today on the official “China’s Tibet website”. (Please click here for the report in Tibetan.)

According to the report, the county court passed the judgement on 10 April 2013 at around 10 am (local time), sentencing eight Tibetan youths from Tsolho Vocational School in Chabcha County for holding demonstration on 26 November 2012. They were charged of “causing harm to social stability”.

Sangye Bum was sentenced to four years in prison, while Kunsang Bum, Lhaten and Jampa Tsering each received three years and six months of imprisonment. Both Wangyal Tsering and Choekyong Kyap were handed three years and three months in prison. In the Chinese version of the report, the identities of the two other sentenced students were revealed. Tsering Tashi and Dola were each sentenced to three years in prison.

The report said over a hundred students, teachers and representatives of various schools in Tsolho Prefecture and Chabcha County attended the court hearing.

The student demonstration in Gonghe County on 26 November last year witnessed an unprecedented number of protesters from local Tibetan schools in the area. The immediate cause of the protest was the distribution of political questionnaires and propaganda booklets containing vilification of the Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and propaganda attacks against self-immolation protests among Tibetan students in Tsolho Prefecture.

The protest lasted for nearly two hours before its suppression by armed police. Many students were injured in the protest as local armed police forces engaged in indiscriminate beatings. There were also unconfirmed reports of police using tear gas shell and gunshots to break up crowds of protesters. An unspecified number of students were detained, with whereabouts of some still unknown.

For more information and background on the Chabcha student protest, please click on the following links:

Thousands of Tibetan students protest China’s political education https://tchrd.org/2012/11/thousands-of-tibetan-students-protest-chinas-political-education/

China alienates, angers Tibetan students with political education https://tchrd.org/2012/11/china-alienates-angers-tibetan-students-with-political-education/

Translated text of questionnaire that sparked Chabcha student protest: https://tchrd.org/2012/11/translated-text-of-questionnaire-that-sparked-chabcha-student-protest/