主题：【原创】井底望天之时事述评系列 -- 井底望天

The court in the western town of Kangding handed down the conviction more than eight months after Phurbu Tsering Rinpoche’s trial. It marked the first time a Tibetan arrested after last year’s riots had been allowed to select his own defence lawyers.

He had faced a maximum of 15 years in prison on the two charges and it is possible that the presence of his lawyers persuaded the judges from imposing an even longer term. The judges may also have been wary of handing down a lengthier sentence for fear of renewed outbreaks of anti-Chinese unrest among supporters in the mainly ethnically Tibetan region that is his home. He commands thousands of disciples in Tibet as well as in other areas of China.

The court sentenced him to seven years in prison on the charge of illegally occupying government land and to an additional year for possession of bullets, Tibetan sources told The Times.