Tibetan Monk free after 5 years in prison for writing a song for the Panchen Lama

Lobsang Jinpa, 35, was arrested for "separatist activities" in 2012. He was imprisoned and tortured. The cultural genocide of the Tibetan people continues.


Dharamsala (AsiaNews / Rfa) - A Tibetan monk sentenced to five years in prison for writing poems and song lyrics was released from jail in Qinghai and is now returning home.

Lobsang Jinpa, 35, is a monk of Tridu (Chenduo, in Chinese), of the Nyatso Zilkar monastery. He was released on 30 October, but news of his liberation has only just filtered through due to restrictions on information and the Internet during the Chinese Communist Party Congress (October 18-24).

Jinpa was arrested in 2012 along with other monks for "separatist activities" and sentenced to five years in prison, where he often suffered torture and punishment. He was jailed for having  collaborated with a Tibetan singer, Lo Lo, composing, producing and publishing a music album with a song in memory of the late Panchen Lama, the tenth.

In the past, Trinle Lhundrup Chökyi Gyaltsen (the name of the late Panchen Lama) had collaborated with the Communist Party, but during the Cultural Revolution he was imprisoned. Released in 1978, and despite being a collaborator, he worked for the rebirth of Tibetan identity.

China has arrested dozens of Tibetan writers, artists, singers, educators and academics guilty of wanting to safeguard their culture and civil rights. According to the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dala Lama, the Chinese occupation of Tibet is emerging as a "cultural genocide."