China arrests brothers who were on the run
21 May 2009
China arrested two Tibetan brothers from Kardze who were involved in last year’s 18 March protest against Chinese rule in Kardze County (Ch: Ganzi/Garze). They were on the run for more than a year until they got arrested from Jyekundo at the beginning of this month, according to information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD).
Tenpa, a 30-year-old and his younger brother, Jamdo, 25, are farmers from Rapa Village, Zakhog Township, Kardze County, Kardze “TAP”, Sichuan Province. Brothers were actively involved in last year’s 18 March protest in Kardze County which was joined by hundreds of Tibetans and left at least three people dead.
They managed to avoid arrest following massive protest marred by large number of arbitrary detentions of protesters in Kardze region. Tenpa and Jamdo had been hiding in the nearby hills and moving from one place to another over the year to avoid being arrested. However, after more than a year on the run, both were known to have been arrested by the Security forces at the beginning of May 2009 in Jyekundo (Ch: Yushu/Jiegu), Jyekundo “TAP”, Qinghai Province, according to information received by the Centre.
There is no information on where the duos were currently held and their current condition. TCHRD condemns in strongest term over the arbitrary arrest of Tenpa and Jamdo and calls for their immediate release.
In the past week, few former Tibetan protesters involved in the last year’s protests in Tibet, have escaped and arrived in India, including two Tibetans from Kardze who were present along with Tenpa and Jamdo during 18 March protest in Kardze.
According to the official report given in the Garze Daily dated 19 May 2009, Kardze People’s Procutorate announced that 73 Tibetans have been arrested under the crimes of endangering state security, inciting to split the country and espionage. Of which 34 Tibetans have appealed for a trial in the court. Similarly, on 15 May 2009, the same official daily quoted the Kardze Intermediate People?s Court as saying that 28 Tibetans have been sentenced and another 19 Tibetans have been interrogated in accordance with law so far in Kardze on cases involving endangering state security. However, according to information gathered by the Centre, around 98 Tibetans were known to have been sentenced to varying prison terms for their participation in protests since March 2008.
