By Phuntsok Yangchen
DHARAMSHALA, August 27: A senior Tibetan monk living in Lhasa has been sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment in a secret trial that is assumed to have been taken place in July, when his family was informed of the sentencing.
Lhasa Intermediate People’s court announced the verdict on Geshe Tsultrim Nyendak for unknown charges.
A 40-year-old Geshe Nyendak, a teacher at Rabten monastery in Driru County, was first detained from Lhasa in December last year and since then his whereabouts remained unknown. On July 31, Chinese authorities informed his family members that Geshe Nyendak is serving his prison term in Chushul prison near Lhasa.
Reliable exile sources say that Geshe Nyendak was subjected to severe torture in the prison and his health condition is very poor.
Last year, hundreds of Tibetans have been targeted, arrested or disappeared since the crackdown began in Driru County in the name of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s “mass line” campaign last year.
