Lhasa (AsiaNews) - Phurbu Tsering Rinpoche, a much loved "living
Buddha" from the Tibetan Buddhist community, "is unrecognizable. After
five years in jail he is emaciated and very weak. His condition has worsened",
warns the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), which succeeded
in contacting the monk in the Sichuan prison where he is being held.
Phurbu, a highly esteemed and respected lama, has
been in jail since May 18, 2008 on charges of illegal possession of a
gun and some bullets, found at his home in Kardze (Ganzi) by police during a
search. The monk was targeted because authorities consider him one of the
instigators of anti-Chinese riots that rocked the province in March 2008.
The protests were born
March 10, 2008, when hundreds of people - which became thousands over
time - demonstrated in Lhasa and elsewhere in Tibet to commemorate the victims of
the bloody crackdown of 1959, implemented by the Communist government against
the Tibetan population who sought the restoration of their independence. During
those riots, the Dalai Lama - the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism - was
forced into exile. According to the Tibetan government in exile in Dharamsala, there
were "hundreds" of victims. According to Beijing, only 13 people died.
The monks trial took place in December 2009, after 19 months of preventive and illegal
detention. His lawyer, Li Fangping, reported that police extorted a false
confession from the religious after four days of continuous interrogation and
threats against his family. The agents, added the lawyer, "tortured him for
months and no one was allowed to visit him." In the end, Phurbu was
sentenced to eight and a half years' imprisonment.
Phurbu Tsering Rinpoche is a tulku, a "living Buddha", and master of
the Tehor monastery in the Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. In addition,
he was (until his arrest) the head of the female monasteries of Pangri and Ya-Tseg.