16 Nov
2009
16 Nov
'09
12:12 p.m.
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Document Details Tibetan Trial, Appeal
HONG KONG, Nov. 16, 2009-Court documents relating to one of three
Tibetans believed to have been executed by the Chinese authorities for
their part in the Lhasa unrest of March 2008 have confirmed the identity
of one of the men, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reports.
According to the documents, judicial authorities in the Tibet Autonomous
Region (TAR) of China handed down a death sentence to Lobsang Gyaltsen,
who was convicted of burning a Han Chinese shopowner to death during the
unrest of March 2008.
"For committing arson, the defendant Lobsang Gyaltsen is sentenced to
death and to the revocation of his life-long political rights," the
Lhasa municipal People's Intermediate Court said in its judgment, a copy
of which was seen by RFA's Tibetan service.
Tibetans in China and overseas had previously reported the executions of
at least three people convicted of rioting during last year's widespread
uprising against Chinese rule.
The reports mentioned one Lobsang Gyaltsen, 24, of Lubuk township, near
Lhasa.
Accomplices cited
The court documents confirmed that a Tibetan tour-guide named Lobsang
Gyaltsen, known also by his Chinese nickname Banzhang, was detained
March 24, 2008, by Lhasa police on suspicion of involvement in setting
fire to shops during the unrest.
The disturbances flared March 14 in Tibetan regions of China following
three days of peaceful protests in Lhasa. Lobsang Gyaltsen was formally
arrested on April 1, 2008.
The Lhasa municipal procuratorate, or government prosecution service,
accused Lobsang Gyaltsen of "actively participating in assault,
smashing, looting, and burning" in the Ramoche street area of Lhasa on
March 14.
"During the afternoon of that day, Lobsang Gyaltsen set fire to the
Hongyu Kuye Garment on Qingnian Lu with the help of fellow accused Pen
Kyi," the court judgment said.
"The victim Zhao Rancun was a Han Chinese national, 45 years old, who
died due to burns," the judgment said, while estimating the damage to
Zhao's shop from the fire at 250,000 yuan (U.S. $36,600).
"The accused also set another garment store, Niaomo Shijia, on fire,
causing damage worth 1.1 million yuan (U.S. $161,100).
The judgment, issued by the appeals department of the Lhasa municipal
People's Court, said subsequent investigations had interviewed Zhao's
wife and son and the owner of the Niaomo Shijia garment store.
He was also convicted of inciting others to participate in riots and of
assaults on police, it said.
"The court found that Lobsang Gyaltsen did participate in the March 14
arson, threw stones at the armed police on Ramoche street and instigated
Tenzin (another accomplice) to participate in the arson."
"At 14.00 hours on the same day, Lobsang Gyaltsen, with the assistance
of Pen Kyi, set the Hongyu Kuye garment shop on fire," it said.
"Lobsang used his lighter to set fire to a shirt which he threw on the
pile of clothes in the shop. Pen Kyi threw kerosene oil that she brought
with her which caused the fire to catch and engulf the whole store in
flames."
In October, Tibetan exiles and residents of the region first reported
the execution of several people convicted of rioting during last year's
widespread uprising against Chinese rule.
They were the first reported executions in connection with rioting that
erupted in March 2008 in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) capital,
Lhasa. Capital punishment is administered only rarely in Tibet, experts
say.
Mixed plea
The judgment, dated April 8, 2009, said that Lobsang Gyaltsen denied
setting fire to Hongyu Kuye Garment but acknowledged setting fire with
an accomplice to the Niaomo Shijia shop, which deals in clothing as well
as precious metals.
It said that his legal representative Phuntsok Wangyal appealed for a
lighter sentence, but that the appeal was turned down.
It said he was sentenced according to Clause 1, Articles 57 and 115, of
the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China.
Before his execution, according to one source, Lobsang Gyaltsen was
permitted a visit with his mother.
"I have nothing to say, except please take good care of my child and
send him to school," he was quoted as telling her.
A local source said Lobsang Gyaltsen's mother's home is now under
round-the-clock surveillance.
Rioting rocked Lhasa in March last year and spread to Tibetan-populated
regions of western China, causing official embarrassment ahead of the
August 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Chinese officials say 21 people-including three Tibetan protesters-died
in the violence.
The India-based Tibetan government-in-exile estimates that 220 Tibetans
were killed and 7,000 were detained in a region-wide crackdown.
The Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy reported separately
that four people were executed on Oct. 24.
A recent Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) report said
that at least 670 Tibetans have been jailed in 2009 for activities that
include peaceful protest or leaking information abroad.
By the end of April 2009, TAR courts had sentenced 84 Tibetans to
punishments ranging from fixed jail terms to life, as well as to death
or death with a two-year reprieve, in connection with the 2008 riots,
the CECC report said.
The report also detailed a widespread Chinese "patriotic education"
campaign that requires Tibetan monks and nuns to pass examinations on
political texts, agree that Tibet is historically a part of China, and
denounce the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.
Original reporting by Dolkar for RFA's Tibetan service.Translated by
Karma Dorjee. Written for the Web in English by Luisetta Mudie. Edited
by Sarah Jackson-Han.
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