According to official Chinese media the three men scattered leaflets in Tongxiao township in Nyarong County calling for a free Tibet and set fire to a government building at dawn of 28 February 2009. Nobody was hurt in the fire. The article in the Ganzi ( Tibetan: Kandze) Daily states that all three men confessed to the “facts of crimes”.

They were detained on 11 March 2009. According to the article all three men confessed to “the crimes of writing slogans inciting splitting the nation, scattering handbills inciting splitting the nation, and setting fire to the township government office building”.

According to a source who knows all three men, their whereabouts remained unknown to their families for five months following their detention and the families only found out about the sentencing after the trial had already taken place.

The three men participated in the  farming boycott protests in Kandze to protest the 2008 crackdown on protestors.

A total of seven Tibetans have been sentenced to death for their roles in the 2008 protests. Two of them have been executed.

Read the news article about Pema Yeshi's case from the Ganzi Daily:

Ganzi Daily, March 18, 2009
Sentences declared in case of incitement to split the nation and endangering public safety against Baima Yixi [Pema Yeshi], Chongweng Jiangcuo [Tsewang Gyatso], and Silong Gongbu [Sonam Gonpo] from Tongxiao [Tib: Thankyi] township in Xinlong [Tib: Nyarong] county

Ganzi Daily. At dawn on February 28, 2009 in Tongxiao township in Xinlong county, a criminal incident of incitement to split the nation and endangering public safety occurred, where criminal elements wrote on buildings along the street where Tongxiao township government is located and scattered handbills with slogans inciting splitting the nation, and then set fire to the township government office building. All fixtures and items within the office building were destroyed, causing economic losses totaling more than 200,000 yuan [US $29,300].

Following the incident, public security organs immediately launched an investigation, and at dawn on March 11, 2009, detained the criminal suspects Baima Yixi (male, 28 years old, from Lieda village, Tongxiao township, Xinlong county), Chongweng Jiangcuo (male, 32, an elementary school cook from Tongxiao township, Xinlong county), and Silong Gongbu (male, 24, an elementary school cook from Tongxiao county, Xinlong county). The three criminal suspects confessed fully and without reservation to the facts of the crimes of writing slogans inciting splitting the nation, scattering handbills inciting splitting the nation, and setting fire to the township government office building. The criminal actions of the three criminal suspects seriously threatened state security and public safety and violated the