Feb. 2
EUROPEAN UNION/CHINA:
EU welcomes lifting of death sentence on Tibetan monk
The European Union welcomed Wednesday a Chinese court's decision to
commute a death sentence against Tibetan monk Tenzin Deleg after an
international outcry over his treatment in a fatal bombing case.
The high court of China's southwestern Sichuan province announced at a
hearing last Wednesday that Tenzin's sentence would be commuted to life
imprisonment.
The EU said it "welcomes" the decision but also "remains very concerned
about the persistent doubts surrounding the impartiality of Tenzin Deleg
Rinpoche's trial, and about the heavy sentence handed down to him".
"The European Union would be grateful to the Chinese authorities if they
could continue to brief it on developments in the case of Tenzin Deleg
Rinpoche," the 25-nation bloc said in a statement.
The monk, officially known in China as A'an Zhaxi, has been at the centre
of a high-profile campaign by international human rights organisations and
governments aiming to have his death penalty commuted.
The 52-year-old was sentenced to death in 2002, suspended for 2 years,
after being convicted of involvement in an April 2002 bombing incident in
the Sichuan provincial capital Chengdu that killed one person and injured
others.
He was also convicted of supporting Tibetan separatists.
Lobsang Dhondup, a 28-year-old activist, was executed in January 2003 for
his role in the bombing.
(source: Agence France Presse)
INDIA:
Death sentence for killing wife and 3 children
A local court here (Keonjahar) has sentenced a man to death for killing
his wife and 3 minor children.
According to the prosecution, Khageswar Bahera brutally murdered his wife
Kuni and three children on June 17, 2002, when he was confronted by her on
his alleged illcit affiars with another woman.
Police said the accused killed all the 4 by slitting their throats with a
sharp weapon.
The District and Sessions judge Srikant Nayak who held Khageswar guilty of
committing the offence under sections 302 and 201 of the IPC, pronounced
the judgement yesterday.
(source: UNI)
