China Sentences Three More Monks in Self-immolation Protest
The Tibet Post, 19 September 2011
Dharamshala: – A local Chinese court in Bakham of center Ngaba county of eastern Tibet Monday, 5th September sentenced three monks of Kirti Monastery to lengthy prison terms after the officials accusing them of their involvement in late Phuntsok’s death by self-immolation to protest against the Chinese rule, according a latest report.
“Ven. Tsekho, 30 year old and Ven. Lobsang Dhargye, 22 year old, a cousin of late Phuntsok were sentenced to 2-years and 6- months imprisonment by a Chinese people’s intermediate court in Bakham of Ngaba, on 5th September 2011, Ven. Kanyak Tsering of India based Kirti Monastery told The Tibet Post International.
“Another Tibetan, a 16 year old Buddhist monk from Kirti monastery, Ngaba County of eastern Tibet was sentenced to 3 years in prison. Three of them were sentenced under ultimatum to return for Chinese patriotic education Campaign,” said Tsering.
“However, the monks denied all allegations made by the Chinese authorities that they say they were trying to save Phuntsok from the Chinese police beating. The authorities also did not allow their family members to engage with other lawyers, except the one that officially provided,” Tsering said in a report.
“In China, Tibetan Buddhists, Uighur Muslims, “house church” Christians all suffer from government attempts to restrict their religious practice,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the release of the recent new report.
The report said “control over religious practice and the day-to-day management of monasteries and other religious institutions continued to be extraordinarily tight. Monks and nuns reported that government restrictions continued to interfere with their ability to carry out the teaching and practice of Tibetan Buddhist religious traditions.”
Phuntsok, a 21-year old Tibetan monk from Kirti Monastery, self-immolated in an act of protest against the Chinese suppression in Tibet. Eye-witnesses reported that Chinese authorities beat Phuntsok as they put out the flames. He died at approximately 3:00am Lhasa Tibet time on March 17th. A protest by an estimated 1,000 monks and lay people was violently suppressed by the armed Chinese military troops.
“As we look around the world, in fact, we see many countries where governments deny their people the most fundamental human rights: the right to believe according to their own conscience – including the freedom to not believe or not follow the religion favored by their government; the right to practice their religion freely, without risking discrimination, arrest, or violence; and the right to educate their children in their own religious traditions; and the freedom to express their beliefs,” Secretary Clinton said in her remarks.