China has jailed disappeared Tibetan monk in secret trial

A Tibetan Buddhist monk who remained disappeared since his arrest by Chinese police in Tibet’s capital Lhasa more than four and half years ago has been found jailed for seven years after a secret trial, reported the Tibetan-language tibettimes.net Apr 1. The monk is originally from Golog (Chinese: Guoluo) prefecture of Qinghai province and was on an extended religious visit from his monastery in Kardze (Ganzi) prefecture of Sichuan province.

The monk, Dhargay,  aged around 63, is suspected to have been persecuted for having allegedly sent religious offerings to the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader despised by China as a “splittist”, and helped some fellow-monks to leave their Chinese-rule homeland.

Dhargay was arrested and forcibly taken away on Aug 5, 2021, along with a relative named Tsering and a nun named Choekyi. Tsering and Choekyi were released after several months, but there was no information on the fate and whereabouts of monk Dhargay.

Read more