http://re****tonarrakis.blogspot.com/2008/04/results-of-standing-up-to-commun=
ist.html
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, 2008
Results of standing up to a Communist Gov't !
A speedy trial ,in which you loose !As I have said before the closer
the Olympics, the worse things get for those that have a voice ,or the
will , to stand up for themselves
! against a commie regime that loves to squish their own people !
( with tanks )
China sentences 30 people _ some to life _ over Tibet riots
By HENRY SANDERSON =96 17 hours ago
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.
=2E...
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.
A policeman was shot to death while attempting to capture an alleged
"riot leader" in a Tibetan area in northwest Qinghai Province, Xinhua
re****ted late Tuesday. The officer, identified as Lama Cedain, died
Monday, according to local authorities.
Xinhua said a March 21 riot had been incited by a few people seeking
"Tibetan independence" in Hongke town. After a monthlong
investigation, police moved to arrest the suspected leader Monday. He
resisted and was killed by other officers during the ensuing
gunbattle, Xinhua said.
On Wednesday, New York-based Human Rights Watch condemned the one-day
trials, saying the Tibetan defendants were not given due process.
"Guilty or innocent, these Tibetans are entitled to a fair trial,"
said Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch.
"Instead, they were tried on secret evidence behind closed doors and
without the benefit of a meaningful defense by lawyers they'd chosen."
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.
A one day trial!
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