A court in China’s southwestern Sichuan province has sentenced a Tibetan man to three years in prison for his role in anti-China protests in March, Tibetan sources in exile say.

Paljor, 38 and a resident of Sichuan’s Ngaba (in Chinese, Aba) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, was sentenced for taking part in March 16 protests near Ngaba’s Kirti monastery, Tibetan monks Kanyag Tsering and Lobsang Yeshe said, citing contacts in the region.

Tsering and Yeshe, who live at the Kirti branch monastery in exile in India, have regularly provided updated information on disturbances and detentions in the troubled Ngaba region, scene of a Chinese security crackdown following the self-immolation death in March of a Kirti monk protesting rule by Beijing.

“Paljor is currently detained at the Mianyang prison in Sichuan province,” Tsering and Yeshe said.

“He was detained around March 20 this year and was sentenced for taking part in the uprising on March 16,” Tsering and Yeshe added, referring to protests that broke out following the self-immolation protest of the Kirti monk, Phuntsog, who died of his burns the following day.

Paljor leaves behind an ailing mother, along with a wife and children, Tsering and Yeshe said.

Others still held

Following the March protests, other Tibetans, both laymen and monks, were detained but have not yet been tried, Tsering and Yeshe said.

These include Dorjee, 16, and the Kirti monk Tsekho, 30, detained at the beginning of April; the Kirti monk Lobsang Jigme, detained before April 22, and Gephel, detained before June; Gerig, detained on March 19, and Kalsang, detained on March 16.

“These are only a few of the cases known of people who were detained by the Chinese following March 16,” Tsering and Yeshe said.

“The whereabouts of many are still unknown,” they said.

Reported and translated by Rigdhen Dolma for RFA’s Tibetan service. Written in English by Richard Finney.