Phayul.com
Tenzin Monlam
October 26, 2015
VOT Photo
Producer Pema Rigdzin, 46, returned to his home in the Ngaba where people welcomed him, said Sonam, a Tibetan living in Europe, citing local sources.
The former monk was detained on May 6, 2013 and sentenced by the Chengdu People’s Intermediate Court to two years and six months in jail and fined 50,000 Yuan for producing ‘politically sensitive’ DVDs on November 26, 2014.
Upon his release, monks and local Tibetans received him with the khata, Tibetan traditional well-wishing scarves, and a welcome feast at a local hall with several Tibetan singers in attendance. However, it is still not clear why Rigdzin was freed before the completion his sentence.
Since 2008, Rigdzin, known for his songs such as ‘In Memory of Tibet’ and ‘Tears’ banned by the authorities, started devoting more time towards producing films and songs. According to the sources, the authorities had threatened to shut down his studio several times before his detention.
The former monk of Namtso monastery in Ngaba was convicted on the same day a popular singer, Kalsang Yarphel, 40, was sentenced to four years in prison for organizing Tibetan concerts and singing songs carrying political themes such as ‘Tibetans’ and ‘Lama la’.
Kalsang Yarphel, a popular Tibetan singer from Machu County, was arrested from the Tibetan capital Lhasa in July 2013 for organizing musical concerts with a theme to promote Tibetan language, according to Lhamo Kyab, a former political prisoner now living in exile.
The Dharamsala-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) had said that Chinese authorities had banned the sale of DVD recordings of the Khawai Metok concerts where Yarphel performed.
China has jailed many Tibetan writers, artists, singers, and educators for asserting Tibetan national and cultural identity and language rights since 2008.
