A court in Tibet has jailed 17 people for terms from three years to life for their roles in deadly riots in the Himalayan region last month, Xinhua news agency said today.
The Lhasa Intermediate People's Court announced the verdicts at an "open trial" attended by more than 200 people, including Buddhist monks, medical workers and "masses from all walks of life," state television said.
It was the first batch of sentences announced since the March 14th violence.
China has blamed Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and his government-in-exile for plotting the riots, in which at least 18 "innocent civilians," according to Beijing, were killed by Tibetan mobs in the regional capital, Lhasa.
