Two monks sentenced to jail in Tibet for exercising their right to freedom of expression

Two monks from Sershul County in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture had been detained incommunicado for almost two years and sentenced on an unknown date in June this year. The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy  (TCHRD) on Monday condemned the sentencing of Tenzin Dhargay and Rigtse to prison for merely exercising the right to freedom of expression, a right protected in the Chinese constitution as well as in major international human rights instruments that the Beijing government is party to.

The two were sentenced by the Sershu l County People’s Court, Dhargay, three years and six months, and Rigtse, three years in prison. ‘So far, Chinese authorities have handled both the cases with extreme secrecy and family members have not been provided with the details of the cases’ said the TCHRD.