Translated by Choegyal Kyab
Reported by Palden
Edited by Pema Tso
The Tibetan environmentalist Tso Ngon Tsering has been sentenced to an additional eight months, but it is still unclear whether an actual court hearing was held.
On October 27 of last year, environmentalist Tso Ngon Tsering was sentenced to eight months imprisonment by the Kyungchu County Court in Ngawa Prefecture (Ch: Aba Tibetan & Qiang Autonomous Prefecture). However, as Tsering refused to accept this unjust sentence, recently a court in Ngawa Prefecture has sentenced him to an additional 8 months and he has been imprisoned in a prison in Barkham, the administrative seat of Ngawa Prefecture. However, details about which court made this decision and when are still unclear.
A concerned Tibetan told our reporter that Tsering’s family members and relatives have been completely forbidden from discussing any information related to him. They have also been threatened that if they disclose or discuss anything about him, their family members could face serious difficulties in the future. Moreover, citing ‘orders from higher authorities,’ his parents were not allowed to visit other households in the village during this year’s Tibetan New Year, nor were they permitted to attend the Great Monlam Festival at Tsennyi Monastery during the New Year period.
He also reported that due to the Chinese government’s intense surveillance of Tsering’s parents, his father Phurkho feels uncomfortable and very anxious about speaking even when meeting people on the streets and other places. His mother Wangdon, who has a heart condition, is in poor physical health. Over the past few months, although his parents have made several requests to the relevant offices to visit Tsering, these requests have been repeatedly turned down.
On October 15 last year, Tso Ngon Tsering posted a five-minute public petition video on Kuaishou, a Chinese video-sharing social media platform. In the video, he revealed that since May 2023, the Anhui Xianhe Construction Engineering Co., Ltd., while constructing a new road in Tsaruma Village of Kyungchu County in Ngawa Prefecture, Sichuan Province, had illegally extracted large amounts of sand on the bank of Dhang Chu River. This activity, he explained, was causing severe damage to the river and ecological environment. He clearly stated that this extraction was also creating serious risks for the livelihood of local people and livestock. After he reported this issue of severe river damage to higher authorities, staff members from the company brought a group of workers and physically assaulted Tsering, causing him injuries.
However, the Kyungchu County Court ignored the underlying case of severe damage to the Dhang Chu River and arrested Tsering on October 22 last year. They charged him with ‘causing social disturbance due to personal grievances’ and sentenced him to eight months in prison. They also stated that this was not the final decision, depending on the attitude of the individual and his family members.
Tso Ngon Tsering is currently 29 years old and is the only son of his father Phurkho (around 60 years old) and mother Wangdron (in her fifties). Tso Ngon Tsering has been known to take great responsibility in community affairs.
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