08. Apr 2006
Tibetan monk imprisoned after talk on Tibetan culture
ICT reports that a Tibetan monk and teacher of traditional monastic dance (cham) from the Tibetan area of Amdo (Qinghai) has been sentenced to four years in prison after he gave talks about Tibetan culture and history. According to the report, Gendun, who is in his thirties, was detained in February 2005. More than 20 monks, students and teachers were also detained in connection with the case, but these appear to have been released soon afterwards. Gendun was tried and sentenced in January 2006. The formal charges brought against him are not known. Gendun, who is from Gongma township in Chabcha (Chin: Gonghe) county in Tsolho (Chin: Hainan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai, had been a cham dance teacher at Yulung monastery in Tsigorthang (Xinghai) county since the late 1990s. He studied Buddhism and traditional Tibetan medicine at the Larung Gar religious institute in Serthar, Sichuan (Kham). According to ICT, Gendun may currently be held in a 'reform through labour' facility (Chin: laogai) west of Xining, Qinghai.