China detains three Tibetan monks in Nagchu County

According to confirmed information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), the Chinese authorities in Nagchu County, Nagchu Prefecture, “Tibet Autonomous Region” (“TAR”) has secretly detained three Tibetan Buddhist monks.

On 11 April 2009, Nagchu Public Security Bureau (PSB) detained Khensur Thupten Thapkhey, 47, a former abbot of Shapten Monastery and a 34-year old scripture master, Geshe Tsultrim Gyaltsen, for unknown reasons.

Nagchu security personnel misled the monks of Shapten Monastery by explaining that Khensur Thupten Thapkhey and Geshe Tsultrim Gyaltsen had gone to Lhasa City to receive Geshe (Doctorate of philosophy) Degree Certificate from religious bureau. However, it proved to be a ruse, where Nagchu authorities straight away taken them to a detention centre, where they were currently being detained.

Similarly, another monk Tsundue, 30, a head of the Shapten Monastery’s Democratic Management Committee (DMC) was also misled by Chinese authorities that he had to attend a meeting but was escorted to Nagchu PSB detention centre.

As of now, TCHRD is yet to learn about the precise reasons for which the three monks were detained. The parents and relatives of the detainees were trying to make contact with them in Nagchu PSB detention centre, according to sources.

TCHRD expresses serious concerns about their safety and well being