Dharamshala Nov. 4 – Three county courts of the “Tibet Autonomous Region” (‘TAR’) sentenced 14 Tibetans to varying prison terms on alleged crimes ranging from endangering public security, robbery, smashing or looting and creating disturbances in so called “March riot”, reported Xinhua on October 29.
Pema Tsewang, vice chairman of the regional government, said that sentences for 55 people have been passed so far for involvement in the March 14 riot in Tibet’s capital, China’s official news agency Xinhua reported Tuesday.
Pema made the remarks at a meeting with Michael Andrew Johnson, a visiting member of the Australian House of Representatives.
Following the violence, police detained 1,317 people, of whom 1,115 were subsequently released. The rest stood trial, said Pema.
The Dharamsala-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy called it a sophisticated move to divert the direction of Tibetan people’s call for more freedom and human rights in Tibet saying that the recent court verdicts indicates authorities attempts to ‘criminalize’ the Tibetan people’s protest.
Their sentences ranged from three years to life.
The Centre stated that the trials were carried out without adequate legal oversight or due process not allowing the detainees to meet with their family and legal counsel, and in some cases held incommunicado for a long period of time. “Such actions call for urgent need of international media and independent agencies must be allowed immediate and unfettered access to all Tibetan areas to investigate the real situation.”
