Two Tibetan singers imprisoned for four years for releasing a music album were released on 3 October from Mianyang Prison and received a warm welcome from friends and well-wishers including former political prisoners in Meuruma Town in Ngaba (Ch: Aba) County in Ngaba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, in the Tibetan province of Amdo.
TCHRD has translated some of the songs from the album, ‘Agony of Unhealed Wounds’, to highlight the secret imprisonment of Tibetan musicians Chakdor and Pema Trinley in Ngaba County in the Tibetan province of Amdo. The release and distribution of the album in July last year led to the detention and imprisonment of Chakdor and Pema Trinley, and the disappearance of musician Khenrap and songwriter Nyagdompo.
Chakdor and Pema Trinley each received four years’ prison sentence in February this year. After being informed officially about the sentencing, family members of both the musicians made at least two unsuccessful attempts to visit them in Mianyang Prison. The Mianyang prison officials apparently had no knowledge about the musicians’ whereabouts.
Two Tibetan singers who were detained last year for releasing a music album titled “Agony of Unhealed Wounds” had been secretly sentenced to four years in prison in Ngaba (Ch: Aba) County in Ngaba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province.
According to reliable information received by TCHRD, singers Pema Trinley, 22, and Chakdor, 32, both hailing from Meuruma nomadic village, had recorded and distributed a music DVD containing songs about current situation in Tibet including self-immolation protests, as well as songs in praise of the Dalai Lama, Panchen Lama, Kirti Rinpoche (exiled head of the Kirti monastery) and Lobsang Sangay (exiled Tibetan political leader). In July 2012, days after the release of the music album, both singers were arrested in the neighbouring Machu (Ch: Maqu) County in Kanlho (Ch: Gannan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province. For over six months, they were detained in Ngaba County, sources told TCHRD, before their secret sentencing in February this year.