Phayul[Monday, August 29, 2011 21:41]

DHARAMSHALA, August 29: A Chinese court in eastern Tibet today sentenced a Tibetan monk to 11 years in jail on charges of “intentional homicide” for “hiding” a fellow monk, Phuntsog, who set himself ablaze in an anti-China protest in March earlier this year.

China’s official news agency, Xinhua, reported that the Ngaba Prefecture Court in its ruling found 46-year old Lobsang Tsundue guilty of hiding Phuntsog thereby preventing him from receiving emergency medical treatment for 11 hours.

Tsundue was Phuntsog’s uncle and also his teacher at the Kirti monastery in Tibet.

However, eyewitnesses of the March 16 self-immolation of Phuntsog in Ngaba have confirmed Tsundue’s role in trying to save his nephew from further beatings at the hands of the Chinese security personnel.

Chinese security personnel after dousing the flames began to beat the charred body of Phuntsog severely. Local Tibetans believe that Phuntsog died as a result of the beatings.

In a release today, the Dharamshala based rights group, Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy called “such false charges and accusation of murder as unjust.”

Tsundue was first arrested on Mach 20 and released after five days of detention. He was rearrested on April 12 and his whereabouts had remained unclear till his appearance for the one-day trial today.

As earlier reported by Xinhua, a second trial will be held tomorrow for two more Kirti monks, Tsering Tenzin and Tenchum. The monks will be tried for “plotting, instigating and assisting” in the self-immolation of Phuntsog.

The Kirti monastery has been under a heavy security lockdown ever since. Many of its monks have gone missing, including some 300 who were taken away in one group to an unknown location in the night of April 21. The are continues to remain off-limits to foreign journalists.