BEIJING, May 7 (AP) -- A senior Tibetan Buddhist monk suspected of passing information to the Dalai Lama has been convicted of plotting to split China and of leaking state secrets, state media reported Wednesday.

Chadrel Rinpoche was sentenced to six years in prison; two associates received lesser prison terms. The punishment was a warning to Tibetan clerics, many of whom remain loyal to the Dalai Lama, Tibet's supreme religious leader who has been in exile since 1959.

The monk had led the Beijing-approved search for the 11th reincarnation of the Panchen Lama. He was detained in May 1995 after the Dalai Lama announced the name of the new Panchen Lama. Chadrel Rinpoche was suspected of informing the Dalai Lama of his search team's choice.

The announcement robbed Chinese leaders of a chance to name the new Panchen Lama, a right they claim under a 200-year-old agreement they say proves China has ruled Tibet for centuries.

The report by China's Xinhua News Agency gave no details of the allegations against Chadrel Rinpoche, abbot of the Panchen Lama's Tashilhunpo monastery; Chamba Chung, deputy director of the Panchen Lama's residence; and Samdrup, an executive of a business believed to be affiliated with the monastery.

"They seriously jeopardized national unification and the unity of ethnic groups, damaged the stability and development of Tibet and have committed the crime of splitting the country," Xinhua said.

Because state secrets were involved, Xinhua said, the three were tried in secret on April 21 in Shigatse, Tibet's second city and site of Tashilhunpo. All three confessed their crimes, it added. Chamba Chung was sentenced to four years in prison and Samdrup to two.

After Chadrel Rinpoche was arrested, Beijing forced Tibet's Buddhist hierarchy to repudiate the Dalai Lama's candidate and choose another 6-year-old boy. The Dalai Lama's choice has not been seen in public since.

Chadrel Rinpoche is the highest level Tibetan cleric arrested and sentenced in 17 years, said Kate Saunders of Tibet Information Network, a London-based monitoring group.

The Chinese army entered Tibet in 1950. Nine years later, the Dalai Lama fled into exile as an uprising against Chinese rule collapsed. In recent years, from his government-in-exile in India, he has called for autonomy for Tibet, not independence.