Tibetan sentenced to four years, another to two years
Two Tibetans were sentenced to four years and two years’ prison terms on unknown dates in connection with protests that occurred in January 2012 in Ngaba (Chinese: Aba) County in Ngaba Tibetan and QiangAutonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province.
Logya, 33, a layman from Meruma township in Ngaba was sentenced tofour years in prison for carrying a portrait of the Dalai Lama and leading a protest march on 23 January 2012 in Ngaba, a reliable source told TCHRD.
After participating in the protests that swept a large part ofTibetan areas in Sichuan Province on 23 January 2012, Logya alongwith 24-yr-old Choepa managed to evade arrest in the hands of Chinesesecurity officers for sometime. Logya was soon arrested at Mematownship in Machu County, Kanlho (Chinese: Gannan) TibetanAutonomousPrefecture, Gansu Province.
Choepa died of self-immolation on 10 August 2012 in Meruma Township inNgaba County.
After his arrest, Logya was detained for months in Barkham (Chinese:Ma’erkang) where he suffered beatings and torture at the hands of security officers. Logya’s family consists of his wife, his threechildren and his parents-in-law. He is now serving his sentence at Mianyang prison in Sichuan Province.
According to our source, Logya was denied access to due process andlegal representation. Moreover, his family was not informed about the trial that was supposedly held before the sentencing. The same sourcesaid an Intermediate People’s Court in Barkham passed the sentence.
Tsering Dugkar, a Tibetan man from Mema Township in Machu County was also sentenced, along with Logya, to twoyears in prison for allegedly providing shelter to Logya when the latter was in hiding following theprotest.
On 23 January 2012, the day protest broke out in Ngaba, security personnel detained Logya’s sister Jampa, 38, and held her in custody for over a month during which she was subjected to extreme brutality and torture. Now living with her parents and her three children, she has yet to recover from physical and psychological trauma she hadundergone during her month-long detention.
Major protests involving hundreds of Tibetans occurred on 23 January2012, the first day of Chinese New Year, in Drango (Ch: Luhuo),Sertha (Ch: Seda) and Ngaba County. In Drango, Chinese securitypersonnel fired upon the protesters injuring over 36 and killing six known Tibetans.
