DHARAMSALA—A Chinese court has sentenced three Tibetans to prison for their roles in a disturbance in June in which over 30 were initially detained, according to Tibetan sources.

The sentence, two-year prison terms for each of the three men, was handed down on Aug. 4 in the Chamdo prefecture of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), sources said.

“The reason for the sentences was not made public,” Geshe Monlam Tharchin, a Tibetan living in Dharamsala, India, said, citing contacts in Tibet. 

“Even their relatives had little information about their charges,” he said.

The three men—identified as Gyaltsentsang Jampa, 46, Buluk, 56, and Mutsatsang Tseten, 40—had been moved to a Chamdo detention center from Jomda county, also in Chamdo prefecture, prior to their sentencing, another source said.

“At one time, it was rumored that the three would be released in Jomda, but their attitude toward Chinese officials caused them to be transferred to Chamdo,” Dorje, a Jomda native now living in India, said.

“My contacts in Jomda are reluctant to give details,” Dorje added.

The three men sentenced had been part of larger group detained in Jomda following a disturbance at nearby Kyabje monastery at the end of June.

Calls seeking comment from authorities in Chamdo and Jomda rang unanswered.

Chinese authorities have imposed tight curbs throughout Tibet following widespread anti-China protests in the region in 2008, and detailed accounts of events in Tibetan areas are often difficult to obtain.

Original reporting by Tenzin Wangyal and Dorjee Damdul for RFA’s Tibetan service. Tibetan service director: Jigme Ngapo. Translations by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Richard Finney. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han.

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