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INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR TIBET
Tibetan rioting that resulted in the detention and criminal prosecution of Tibetans had
also taken place in two counties in Lhasa municipality — Toelung Dechen and Tagtse
(Chinese: Dazi) counties — on March 14 and 15 respectively, based on additional
official reports (Xinhua, 29 April).
None of the sentences involved accusations of manslaughter, indicating that the most
severe sentences, possibly the death penalty, may still be forthcoming. In a state media
report on July 11, Executive Vice Chairman of the TAR Pema Trinley drew attention
to this. It is not known whether his comment that no death sentences have been carried
out to date following the protests was made in order to appease the international
community prior to the Olympics, or whether it was meant to highlight that these sentences
could be forthcoming after further evidence was collected. 5 Following an
amendment of China’s Organic Law of the People’s Courts that took effect on January
1, 2007, if a court sentences a defendant to death, the Supreme People’s Court must review
and approve the sentence before an execution can be carried out. Prior to the
amendment, the same court that would hear an appeal against the verdict (the TAR
High People’s Court, in this case) also had the authority to issue final approval of the
sentence. 6
A report by Human Rights Watch challenged the legitimacy of the sentencing procedures
carried out so far in Lhasa, stating that actual trial proceedings, in which evidence
from the prosecution was introduced, had been conducted covertly on
undisclosed dates earlier in April, and that the Tibetans were denied access to a meaningful
defense with lawyers they had chosen. 7 In an image released by the state media
of the trial, one of the prisoners is sitting on a chair, which some observers have noted
could mean they were unable to stand following torture.
Amnesty International stated in a recent report that “many hundreds, possibly thousands,
of Tibetans languish in prisons or detention centers without the government
publicly acknowledging their whereabouts or formally charging them with a criminal
offence.” 8
News has recently emerged of a life sentence and two other long sentences being imposed
on three Tibetan men in their twenties from Lotah township in Ngaba TAP in
Sichuan for charges of “beating, smashing and looting.” Twenty three-year old Kalbeh,
was sentenced to life on around July 10, according to Tibetan exile sources from the
area, while 27-year old Tsekho was sentenced to 13 years and Tirzoe, 25, sentenced to
15 years, all at the Ngaba TAP Intermediate People’s Court. The same Tibetan source
told ICT that the three were denied adequate legal representation. The source said
that around 17 other Tibetans from the area were in custody awaiting trial.
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