Dharamsala, October 26 – 3 monks of a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Dhingri in south western Tibet under Shigatse prefecture have been sentenced to varying prison terms, the Voice of Tibet reported Monday.
Tenzin Gephel and Ngawang, both monks of Shelkar Choede monastery, have been sentenced to 12 years in prison while another monk of the same monastery has been sentenced to 5 years in jail. However, the dates of trial and verdict announcement are not known as of now.
The 3 were arrested along with 10 others on May 19, 2008 when Chinese work team officials arrived at the monastery to force patriotic reeducation upon the monks in the monastery.
The monks were forced to denounce the exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama during the patriotic reeducation campaign but the monks stood defiant despite warnings of expulsion and even arrest saying that the Dalai Lama was their root religious teacher and that they revered him greatly.
A total of 13 monks were arrested on May 19, 2008. 10 were released after a year in 2009. The local Chinese authorities have stopped admission of new monks to the monastery since the incident.
