On Apr 29, 2:27=A0pm, Volt <voltchakha...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> China sentences 30 people _ some to life _ over Tibet riots
They should execute the 30 and save the money for jailing them.
> By HENRY SANDERSON =96 1 hour ago
=A0http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h5=
Z6bJwtN_roGSIUQiQnfbf2NkhgD90BO3P00
>
> BEIJING (AP) =97 Six Buddhist monks were among 30 people sentenced by a
> Chinese court Tuesday to jail terms ranging from three years to life
> for taking part in deadly riots in Tibet.
>
> The punishments were the first to be meted out by a Chinese court
> against Tibetans accused of taking part in a frenzy of assaults,
> burning, looting and vandalism mainly targeting Han Chinese and their
> businesses in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa and nearby areas between
> March 14-16.
>
> The violence and subsequent government crackdown drew worldwide
> attention to China's human rights record and its rule in Tibet ahead
> of the Beijing Olympics. Celebrations marking 100 days to the start of
> the games take place Wednesday.
>
> The sentences were announced during two sessions of a one-day trial at
> the Intermediate People's Court of Lhasa, the official Xinhua News
> Agency re****ted. China Central Television's evening newscast showed
> the convicts being led out by police with bowed heads in front of a
> packed courtroom.
>
> Xinhua said three men received life sentences, including a Buddhist
> monk identified as Basang who allegedly led 10 people, including five
> other monks, to destroy local government offices, burn down shops and
> attack policemen.
>
> Two of Basang's alleged monk accomplices were sentenced to 20 years,
> and the other three to 15 years in jail.
>
> Soi'nam Cering, a driver for a Lhasa real estate company, was
> sentenced to life in jail for joining in the mobs that burned
> vehicles, smashed police stations and assaulted firefighters during
> the riot, Xinhua said.
>
> The third man to receive a life sentence was a 30-year-old businessman
> who was identified only by his last name, Cering, Xinhua said. The
> agency re****ted that he was convicted of inciting others to commit
> arson and looting shops and vehicles during riots in his home county
> of Lingzhou, about 40 miles east of Lhasa, on March 15 and 16.
>
> CCTV said seven people were sentenced to about 15 years in prison, and
> the other 20 received sentences of between three to 14 years. The
> charges included arson, robbery, interruption of law enforcement, and
> theft, it said.
>
> The quick trials and their prominent coverage by state media signaled
> China's resolve in putting a firm lid on domestic Tibetan dissent
> ahead of the Summer Games.
>
> "The party has a long tradition of carrying out speeded up trials with
> minimum forms of process for defendants whenever it wants to send a
> strong message to local people," said Robbie Barnett, an expert in
> modern Tibet at Columbia University.
>
> Such trials originated in China in the early 1980s in so-called
> "Strike Hard" campaigns, intended to speed up prosecutions for crimes
> considered at threat to social stability, he said.
>
> Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu defended the judicial process,
> saying during a regular press briefing Tuesday that the relevant
> authorities would handle the Tibetan lawbreakers "according to the law
> in a fair and just way."
>
> Following weeks of international pressure by the U.S. and the European
> Union, Beijing has also moved to tamp down tensions diplomatically.
> The government announced last week that it would be willing to begin
> talks with representatives to the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual
> leader of Tibet whom Beijing has blamed for fomenting the unrest.
>
> Jiang said "specifics of the contact and consultation have still yet
> to be further discussed."
>
> The gesture comes after rights groups and pro-Tibetan sup****ters
> outside China protested against the Olympic torch relay at several
> stops around the world, resulting in massive disruptions and clashes
> with pro-China groups in some cities.
>
> On Monday, Tibetan authorities announced the reopening of one of
> Tibet's main monasteries, the Sera, which was closed after the riots,
> something officials had said would happen once investigators
> determined if any monks took part in the unrest.
>
> China has said 22 people died in the riots; Tibet's government-in-
> exile said Tuesday it believes at least 203 Tibetans were killed in
> the ensuing crackdown.
>
> The estimate was compiled from the government-in-exile's own sources,
> Tibetan exile groups and official Chinese media. It was impossible to
> independently verify the information.
>
> The protests, initially led by Buddhist monks, started peacefully on
> March 10, the anniversary of a failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese
> rule. They became violent four days later as Tibetans attacked cars
> and shops run by Han Chinese, China's majority ethnic group.
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