04. Jun 2009
Police blame monk's suicide on stress
(Xinhua) Chinese police in Qinghai province have issued a statement in which they claim that a monk who recently committed suicide was suffering from stress resulting from heart disease and the death of members of his family. According to the Central Tibetan Administration's (CTA) website Tibet.net, the monk, identified as Shedup (or Shadri) killed himself on or around 02 April 2009 in his room at a monastery in Rebgong (Chin: Tongren) county, Malho (Chin: Huangnan) TAP, Qinghai province. Tibet.net said at the time that Shedup had been arrested in March 2008 for participating in a protest in Rebgong, and was allegedly tortured during his detention. He was then released but his name appeared on the wanted list before the anniversary of the Lhasa uprising on 10 March 2008 In order to avoid arrest and, he believed, further torture, Shedup took his own life. According to police in Qinghai however, the reason he committed suicide was because of "psychological stress". The statement said the family of the monk "concurred with the investigation results".