Shortly after postponing a summit with the European Union in protest over French president Nicolas Sarkozy’s plans to meet with the Dalai Lama, a Chinese official announced through state media that over 1,000 people detained in connection with the Lhasa riots in March have been released. From Reuters:
China has released more than 1,000 people detained after rioting in Tibet in March, state media on Wednesday quoted a senior official as saying.
“Most of the released rioters had turned themselves in right after the riot,” the official Xinhua news agency quoted Zhu Weiqun, a vice minister who handles relations with ethnic minorities and religious groups, as saying.
[…]Zhu, who said there was no “suppression” in Tibet, added that the suspects “had enjoyed all legitimate rights based on Chinese law”, Xinhua paraphrased him as saying.
“Local courts sent interpreters to help all rioters in the trial and ethnic background and religious beliefs were not considered when handing down sentences,” Zhu said.
Read more about the Lhasa riots here on CDT.
