CHINA: FOUR TIBETANS SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR STARTING FIRES DURING UNREST IN LHASA

April 8, 2009: the Lhasa Municipal Intermediate People’s Court sentenced two Tibetans to death and two to death with a two-year reprieve for their role in the unrest in Lhasa in March 2008. According to the Xinhua news agency, Lobsang Gyaltsen will be executed for arson attacks on two garment shops in central Lhasa on March 14 that killed a shop owner. The same sentence was handed down to Loyak for torching a motorcycle dealership in Deqen Township, which left five people dead, it said. Suspended death penalties were passed on an accomplice, Kangtsuk, and on Tenzin Phuntsok who reportedly confessed to starting a separate lethal fire. A fifth defendant, Dawa Sangpo, got life imprisonment. “The three arson cases are among the crimes that led to the worst consequences in the 14 March riot,” the court spokesman was quoted by Xinhua as saying. “Their crimes incurred great losses to people’s lives and property and severely undermine the social order, security and stability.” He said the judges have followed the criminal policy of "tempering justice with mercy" and "exercising strict and cautious control over the use of death penalty" in handling the cases. The spokesman also said the court had given open trials strictly abiding by the Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China. "The court also provided Tibetan interpreters for the defendants," he said. "Their lawyers fully voiced their defenses. The litigious rights of the defendants were fully safeguarded and their customs and dignity were respected," he added. (Sources: Xinhua, 08/04/2009)