A Tibetan environmentalist was yesterday sentenced to five years in prison on a charge of inciting separatism in China, in the latest sign of what rights groups called increasing repression of Tibetan intellectuals.
Chinese authorities said an article on Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama was posted to Rinchen Samdrup's Web site, which is dedicated to environmental protection in the Himalayan region.
Rinchen Samdrup pleaded not guilty in a trial that lasted less than two hours. He told the Changdu Intermediate People's Court he didn't post the article and it was a mistake not to delete it quickly.
The Chinese government is highly sensitive about anything related to the Dalai Lama, whom it has accused of supporting independence for Tibet. Tensions in the region escalated after 2008 rioting in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, in which at least 22 people died.
“I feel regret about this sentence,” his lawyer Xia Jun (夏軍) said by telephone after the verdict. “It was a mistake but not a crime.”
The lawyer said someone else posted the article, not Rinchen Samdrup. He did not say who.
The sentence comes little over a week after Rinchen Samdrup's brother, a nationally known environmentalist once praised by the government as a model philanthropist, was sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges of grave-robbing and dealing in looted antiquities.
Supporters of the brother, Karma Samdrup, said the sentence was aimed at punishing his activism, including his efforts to free Rinchen Samdrup and another brother from detention. Rinchen Samdrup and brother Chime Namgyal were detained after accusing local officials in eastern Tibet of poaching endangered species.
Chime Namgyal, is reportedly serving a 21-month sentence in a labor camp on the vague charge of harming national security.
Even after Rinchen Samdrup was detained, the People's Daily newspaper, the mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party, published stories this year in praise of his environmental work.
Xia said Rinchen Samdrup has 10 days to appeal.
“The verdict is unacceptable. He was wrongly accused,” said Rinchen Samdrup's daughter, Dorje Songmu, who attended the trial.
“This morning, he looked much thinner than before. His condition was not very good. We couldn't talk with him directly,” she said.
Last month, the US-based International Campaign for Tibet published a report saying 31 Tibetans are in prison “after reporting or expressing views, writing poetry or prose, or simply sharing information about Chinese government policies and their impact in Tibet today.”
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