AP: China Sentences 17 for Alleged Involvement in Tibet Riots
by Danny Fisher
From the Associated Press:
- A Chinese court sentenced 17 people to jail terms Tuesday ranging from three years to life in prison for their alleged roles in the deadly riots in the Tibetan capital last month, state media reported.
The Intermediate People’s Court of Lhasa announced the sentences at an open session, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. It gave no other immediate details.
China’s state broadcaster reported that 200 people attended the trial, the first since the mid-March riots.
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The sentences come the same day authorities announced the reopening of the first of the Buddhist monasteries in Lhasa–the Sera Monastery–closed after last month’s riots, Xinhua reported.
“Monks have been taught legal knowledge in recent days and the monastery has resumed normal religious activities,” Tenzin Namgyal, deputy director of the Tibet Autonomous Regional Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee, was quoted as saying.
Other monasteries that were closed will be reopened soon, he said.
