Reported By Palden
Edited By Pema Tso
Translated By TenGyal
The Chinese authorities have sentenced Venerable Palden Yeshe to six years’ imprisonment without providing any justification whatsoever. Furthermore, one of his brother was detained for a week and subjected to interrogations and beatings. Reports have also emerged indicating that his family members have been repeatedly harassed and intimidated.
On May 17th, 2021, the Chinese government arbitrarily detained and arrested Palden Yeshe, a teacher at Kardze Monastery in Drung-nga Township, Kardze County, without providing any justification.News has only now emerged that he was sentenced to six years in prison and is currently being held in Chushur Prison in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).
Following his arbitrary arrest, although Palden Yeshe’s family and associates contacted the authorities four times to inquire about his whereabouts and condition, the government refused to provide any clear information. It was only recently his six-year sentence came to light after he disclosed it himself. Until that moment, the sentence had not even been communicated to his family.
A Tibetan source related to the incident informed this correspondent, “The Chinese government has yet to provide any clear justification for the six-year sentence handed to Ven.Palden Yeshe. However, during his time as a teacher at the monastery, he frequently held Tibetan language tuition classes for students during their school breaks. Because of this, the Chinese authorities long maintained an antagonistic stance toward him, subjecting him to persistent harassment. To this day, there is still no clear information regarding the specific charges or the alleged crime that led to his arrest.”
Following Ven.Palden Yeshe’s sudden and arbitrary detention, his family petitioned the Chinese government four times to inquire about his condition. Instead of providing clarity, the authorities subjected them to persistent harassment and intimidation. Moreover, one of his brother was forcibly detained for a week, during which they were subjected to interrogations and beatings., Palden’s father, Sonam Tsewang, suffered prolonged emotional distress due to the arrests and tragically passed away on September 29, 2022.
Ven.Palden Yeshe is the son of Sonam Tsewang and Lujin Tsang Tenga, from Drung-nga Township in Kardze County. He is currently 52 years old and has three brothers. In addition to serving as a teacher at Kardze Monastery, he also provided tuition classes for Tibetan languageand other subjects to students during their summer and winter breaks.
