Chinese authorities have sentenced a Tibetan man to five years in jail for staging a lone protest.The family of Samdrub Gyatso, who was detained nearly two years ago for holding the protest in Tibet’s capital Lhasa, was informed of the sentence only a few days ago, although it was handed down in October last year.Gyatso had gone on May 1, 2010, to Lhasa’s central temple, the Jokhang, and called for the return to Tibet of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, the release from detention of another senior religious leader, and the restoration of property belonging to Tibetans expelled from their land following a devastating earthquake.
He raised slogans for about five minutes, and seven police officers then surrounded him and took him away. No information was available following his detention.
A few days ago, his family in Lhasa received a letter saying that he had been sentenced to five years in jail.

The verdict had been handed down by the Lhasa Chushul People’s Court on Oct. 14, 2011, though, more than five months ago.

No explanation was given for the long delay in notifying Samdrub Gyatso’s family of his sentence.

Gyatso is now confined at the Chushul Prison near Lhasa, Dhargyal said, adding that family members had twice last year tried to visit him at another detention center, but had been turned away.