AP-Dow Jones News Service - November 11, 1996

BEIJING A Tibetan monk released from prison in 1994 is living under virtual house arrest, unable to move about freely, a monitoring group said Sunday, quoting European lawmakers allowed to see him.

Chinese officials say Yulo Dawa Tsering is on parole. But a three-member European Parliament delegation granted a 10-minute meeting last week said he was 'not the master of his own movements.'

Bernie Malone, a European Parliament member from Ireland, said Tsering 'appeared to us to be under some kind of restraint. He didn't have the freedom to come and go,' the London-based Tibet Information Network said.

However, Tsering, 68, appeared reasonably healthy and told the lawmakers his circumstances were 'better than those who are in prison,' said the group, which is often critical of Chinese rule over Tibet.

Tsering was detained in December 1987 and sentenced to 10 years in prison after he discussed Tibetan affairs with two tourists from Italy. He was paroled in November 1994, three weeks before a visit by a U.N. human rights team, the Tibet Information Network said.

The European lawmakers said they had to lobby hard to meet Tsering during an official visit to the Tibetan capital of Lhasa last week. On the last day of the visit, they were taken to a hotel where they were allowed a 10-minute meeting with Chinese government officials present. They weren't allowed to take Tsering's photo.