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Tibetan given three years in prison for emails and sms

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An undated photo of trekking guide Gonpo Tserang of Ngaba (Ch: Aba) in today’s Sichuan province. A Chinese court gave him three years in prison on charges of “inciting splittism” after last year’s unrest in Tibet that began on 14 March in Lhasa. The court said he sent a series of emails and text messages over three days to acquaintances outside of China that “distorted the facts and true situation.”TCHRD handout/China

A previously unknown case of a Tibetan sentenced to three years in prison for “inciting splittism” after last spring’s unrest in Lhasa has surfaced.

Verdicts of Chinese courts obtained by the Dui Hua Foundation showed proceedings and the charges against the accused.

Gonpo Tserang, a well-respected expedition guide who has trekked with foreign celebrities and participated in high-profile mountain rescue efforts, was charged for sending a series of emails and text messages which allegedly twisted the real situation in Tibet.

The prosecutors of the Intermediate People’s Court of Yunnan Province claimed that the messages “distorted the facts and true situation regarding social stability in the Tibetan area following the 14 March incident,” and were considered by the court to be deserving of severe punishment.

The verdict alleged that he sent the messages to his acquaintances outside of China for three days from 16 to 18 March 2008.

He was detained on 23 March last year and arrested on 26 April of the same year, and held at the Xianggelila Detention Centre. An IBM laptop computer and a Nokia mobile phone was confiscated from him.

“Our procuratorate finds that defendant Gonpo Tserang used the Internet to deliberately fabricate rumours, distort the true situation, and incite splittism,” the court papers obtained and translated by Dui Hua Foundation said.

While finalising the charges on 19 September last year, the court said his actions violated Article 103(2) of the Criminal Law of China.

Higher People’s Court of Yunnan Province Criminal Decision gave Tserang a sentence of three years in prison with subsequent deprivation of political rights for another year.

“It is not at all apparent that the charge of “inciting splittism” was properly applied,” a Dui Hua Foundation report said out on its blog.

It further pointed out that the content of the messages is never specified, and it is questionable whether individuals who are not located in China are even capable of carrying out acts that would “split the nation or undermine national unity.”

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