(TibetanReview.net, Feb 12) – Courts in Tibet Autonomous Region had so far sentenced 76 people involved in the Mar 14 “riot” last year in Lhasa, reported China’s official Xinhua news agency Feb 11, citing Nyima Cering, vice chairman of the standing committee of the Tibet regional People’s Congress. It said Cering made the remark at a press conference on Feb 11 night but gave no other details of any kind regarding trials and sentences. It only cited him as saying the alleged riot seriously affected China’s sovereignty.
This would mean that 21 more people had been sentenced since Nov 4 2008. In a meeting with a visiting Australian delegation on that day, Cewang had said 55 people had been sentenced so far for their involvement in the Lhasa unrest. At that time too, no other details, including with regard to names and jail terms, were given.
The Feb 11 comment was only the third admission by the authorities on the sentencing of Tibetans in connection with the Mar 14 unrest in Lhasa. The first admission came on Sep 3, when it was reported that 42 Tibetans had been sentenced in two batches on Apr 29 and Jun 20-21 to jail terms of up to life.
There have so far been no official reports on the sentencing of Tibetans for involvement in the Mar’08 uprising from other parts of historical Tibet, including those in Qinghai, Gansu, Yunnan and Sichuan. The exile Tibetan government and Tibet groups have reported so many more jail sentencings from across the Tibetan Plateau in connection with the Mar’08 uprising protests.