Chinese court issues suspended death sentence to another Tibetan
by Phurbu Thinley, Phayul
April 21st, 2009
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 Dharamsala, April 21: A Chinese court in Tibet has sentenced a Tibetan
to death with a two-year reprieve and two others to long jail terms for
setting fires that killed six people in the Lhasa riot last year,
Chinese state media said Tuesday.
The Lhasa Municipal
Intermediate People's Court issued a suspended death sentence to a
Tibetan man, identified as Penkyi of Sakya County, for “starting fires
in two downtown clothing shops on March 14,” Xinhua news agency
reported, citing a state-run Tibet Daily newspaper. However, the exile
Tibetan government, NGOs and monitoring agencies say that Penkyi is a
21-year-old woman from Norbu village, Dogra township in Sakya County. A
picture of Penkyi (see right) was also posted on the official website of the
Tibetan government in exile.
The first fire killed the store's
ethnic Han Chinese owner, while the second claimed the lives of five
store staff, the Xinhua report said.
Penkyi was sentenced to life in jail photo/TibetNet
According
to the report, the other two Tibetans convicted, one of whom also was
named Penkyi and the other Chime, helped set the second fire that
killed five of the shop's six staff.
Penkyi (age 23), of Nyinmo, was sentenced to life imprisonment and Chime (age 20) was jailed for 10 years, the report said.
The
Chinese media report did not say when the sentences were delivered nor
did it give other details of the defendants and their arguments.
The
report by the Tibetan Government-in-exile described the latter Penkyi
as a 23-year old woman from Thantoe village, Margkyang Township in
Nyemo County and the other as a 20-year old Chime Lhamo.
Chime Lhamo was sentenced to 10 years in jail photo/Tibet.net
The
court in Lhasa earlier this month sentenced two people, Lobsang
Gyaltsen and Loyak, to death for their alleged roles in separate arson
attacks, state media said at the time. It was the first report of death
sentences given out for last year’s unrest in Tibet that led to the
most sustained uprising against Chinese rule in decades.
Two
others, Tenzin Phuntsok and Kangtsuk, were given suspended death
sentences at the time, while another Dawa Sangpo was given life in
prison in three separate “arson” cases.
Chinese state news agency Xinhua at the time reported that another arson case was still under trial in Tibet.
Tibetan
Government-in-Exile, based in northern India, said those sentenced had
not received a fair trial and warned of even greater resentment among
Tibetans.
China insisted the close-door trials had been open and
fair according to Chinese law and that the accused were defended by
lawyers and provided with Tibetan interpreters.
Following the
March 2008 protests, several lawyers from the Mainland China who
offered to represent Tibetan detainees were, however, reportedly
threatened by Chinese authorities not to help Tibetans or else they
might lose their registration to practice law.
Condemning the
death sentences, Tibetan exiles around the world staged series of
protests and also urged the international community, especially the
rights groups, to help in their campaign to ensure fair and proper
trial for the convicted Tibetans. |
