Disappeared Tibetan protester found jailed in China/ENG

2012. január 21./Tibetan Review/WTN/TibetPress

Tibetan Review
January 18, 2012

A 42-year-old Tibetan man detained and rendered disappeared after a protest in Ngaba Town of Sichuan Province in Mar 2011 following Chinese police beating of a young Tibetan monk who had immolated himself has been found sentenced to a three-year jail term. Kalsang, also called Gonkar, of Thangwa Mai Tragyal family in Ngaba Town, was found serving his jail term at a place called Mianyang, located near the provincial capital Chengdu, RFA.org Jan 13 cited a source in Tibet as saying.

He was reported to have been initially detained at the Ngaba County detention centre, where he was severely beaten and tortured, and then rendered disappeared for nine months.

His family was reported to have learnt only in early Jan 2012 that he had been secretly tried and sentenced. His family of farmers – consisting of his parents, wife, and three children – were neither informed about his detention, trial, or sentence nor allowed to visit him in prison.

The self-immolation in Mar 2011 by a young monk named Phuntsog of Kirti Monastery in Ngaba Town and his severe beating by Chinese security forces had led to massive protests by local Tibetans, leading to deaths and arrests of of Tibetans and severe clampdown on the monastery and the local Tibetans by the Chinese authorities.