British Tibetan Monk killed in China 11.10.2013

Respected British Tibetan monk killed in southwest China: sources

By Didi Tang, AP
October 10, 2013, 12:12 am TWN

BEIJING--A respected Tibetan monk who co-founded the first Tibetan Buddhist monastery in the West and maintained contacts with the Beijing government was killed in China, local police and his brother said.

Tarap Shetrup Akong was a rare example of an overseas Tibetan monk who was able to travel regularly to China, build schools in poverty-stricken areas and meet with senior government officials despite fleeing his Himalayan homeland after the Communist Party's takeover of Tibet decades ago. Reports of his death by stabbing Tuesday were met with shock and sadness among Tibetans.
“He was kind and astute, and earned the respect of the community,” said Tibetan writer and activist Tsering Woeser, who met the monk in 2003 in a western Chinese town where he was preparing for a charity school project.
The monk, a British citizen, was attacked by three Tibetans at his residence in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu on Tuesday and was killed along with his nephew and a driver, Chengdu police said.
Police said the attack occurred after negotiations over a financial dispute soured. The victim's brother, Lama Yeshe Rinpoche, issued a statement saying the three had been “assassinated,” but did not elaborate.
The brother wrote on the website of the Scottish monastery co-founded by Tarap Shetrup Akong that the monk's body had been taken to a hospital where a post-mortem would be carried out.

Chengdu police said suspects have been detained and admitted carrying out the killings.