Taktse County protesters

The Tibetan Government-in-exile reported on August 27 2009 that three Tibetans who took part in a protest in Taktse County have been sentenced at Lhasa Intermediate People's Court. It seems that the trial took place earlier in 2009, but news of it had not been available.

26-year-old Lobsang Wangchuk (left) received the harshest sentence; 15 years imprisonment. Tsultrim, 23, and Choephel, 24, were both sentenced to two and a half years in prison. A fourth Tibetan protester, 22-year-old Lhakpa Tsering, was sentenced to five years for taking part in a protest in Lhasa. They are all expected to serve their sentences in Chushul County, near Lhasa.

The trial is one of a long line of such cases in which some of over 1,000 Tibetans missing since the 2008 Tibetan protests are facing lengthy sentences for standing up against Chinese rule. It is unknown how many Tibetans disappeared during the 2008 protests, and there are serious concerns for their wellbeing given the notorious use of torture in Tibetan detention centres and the lack of accountability created by virtue of their locations being unknown.