(TibetanReview.net, Jun17’25) – China is learnt to have jailed two top religious leaders of a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Dege County of Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan province, for their alleged role in peaceful protests against a major hydropower dam project last year, reported the Tibetan Service of rfa.org Jun 16. The plan to build the Kamtok (Chinese: Guantuo) dam has led to the forced displacement of villages and destruction of historic religious sites, with little benefits to the local population.
The report said Sherab, the abbot of Yena Monastery in the county’s Wonpotoe (or upper Wonpo, Wangbuding) township, is understood to have been jailed for four years and Gonpo, the monastery’ chief administrator, for three years. It is not clear whether they were tried in an open court, or when they were sentenced, the report said, citing sources requesting anonymity due to fear of reprisal.
Gonpo is said to be in no position to serve his jail sentence as he remains in critical condition due to torture during detention. He reportedly remains under intensive care in provincial capital Chengdu’s West China Hospital.
The two were stated to have been detained with hundreds of other Tibetan monks and local residents in Feb 2024 after appeals were made and peaceful protests held to urge a halt to the construction of the 1,100-megawatt Gangtuo dam on the Drichu river (Jinsha). The local Tibetans feared that the project would submerge several historically important monasteries, including Yena and Wonto monasteries, and displace Tibetan communities in at least two major villages.
Many of the detained protestors were stated to have been severely beaten during interrogations, with some requiring medical attention. While most were released by the following month, key monastic and village leaders, whom authorities suspected played a leading role in the protests – like Wonto Monastery’s senior administrator Tenzin Sangpo and village official Tenzin – were transferred to a larger county detention centre, the report said.
Yena Monastery was targeted with particularly severe repression, including with doses of “focused rectification and re-education” of their political ideologies, because of its monks’ alleged role as “serious informants” about the protests, the report cited the sources as saying.
Officials were stated to have vowed to “severely punish” the leaders of the two monasteries – the other being Wonto – also for their decision to seek and hire legal representation.
The entire area where the two and other monasteries and villagers, with a total population of nearly 4,000 people, were located were stated to have been cut off with checkpoints set up to tightly restrict entry and exit, while multiple checkpoints were also stated to have been set up along the nearby border between Tibetan areas in Sichuan and the Tibet Autonomous Region running besides the area.
The Gangtuo Dam is part of a massive 13-tier hydropower complex on the Drichu, with a total planned capacity of 13,920 megawatts.