Tibetan language advocate Tashi Wangchuk marked his third year behind bars on Sunday after being convicted on a charge of separatism for promoting the use of his native language in Tibetan areas of China, amid renewed calls by rights and media organizations for his release. Wangchuk was sentenced on Jan. 4, 2018 by a court in Qinghai’s Yulshul Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture following a controversial trial in which the prosecution based its case on a video report by the New York Times documenting the activist’s work.
Wangchuk was arrested on Jan. 27, 2016, two months after the Times ran its report, and was handed a five-year prison term on Jan. 4, 2018 by a court in Qinghai’s Yulshul Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. His sentence of five years will include his time already spent in detention.
