A Tibetan monk jailed for six years for sharing news of anti-China protests has been freed after serving his full term, but is believed to be in poor health and suffering from impaired vision, Tibetan sources said.
Ngakchung, aged about 45, was taken into custody in 2008 in Chengdu, the capital of western China’s Sichuan province, a Tibetan living in exile told RFA’s Tibetan Service on Tuesday.
“He was released on July 8, but it is difficult to learn any details about his health,” Serthar Chime said, citing contacts in the region.
“We know for sure that his health was not good while he was detained, and that his eyesight is very weak,” he said, adding, “Because of a recent protest by another monk in Serthar [in Chinese, Seda] county, lines of communication in the area are blocked.”
Ngakchung was detained in Chengdu on July 8, 2008 together with two friends—his elder cousin Traphun and a monk named Gudrak — while on an errand for the Larung Gar Buddhist Institute, located in Serthar county in Sichuan’s Kardze (Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Chime said.
“The other two were later released, but Ngakchung was held back and was eventually sentenced to six years in prison, with another year of deprivation of political rights to be served following his release,” he said.
“It was alleged that he had passed information on Tibetan movements during protests in 2008 to ‘outside contacts,’” Chime said.
Full Story: Tibetan Monk Released in Poor Health After Six Years in Jail
Source: Radio Free Asia