As Tsenden Monastery reels under a severe crackdown with the number of cases of arbitrary detention peaking since 2013, a former monk of the monastery has been released after completing a 15-year prison sentence in Sog (Ch: Suo) County in Nagchu (Ch: Naqu) Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).
On 20 March this year, Ngawang Gyurmey, a well-known monk from the embattled Tsenden Monastery was released at about 1.30 pm (local time) after he had served a fixed prison term of 15 years in Chushur Prison in the outskirts of Lhasa city.
Family members of Ngawang Gyurmey are worried that he may not survive long due to poor health. They fear he will meet the same fate as Tenzin Choewang a fellow monk who was released but died after being bedridden for three years due to beatings and torture suffered in prison. Another monk Yeshi Tenzin had also died after three months of his release. Both were arrested with Ngawang Gyurmey in March 2000.