China says releases more than 1,000 after Tibet riots

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has released more than 1,000 people detained after rioting in Tibet in March, state media Wednesday quoted a senior official as saying.

"Most of the released rioters had turned themselves in right after the riot," the official Xinhua news agency quoted Zhu Weiqun, a vice minister who handles relations with ethnic minorities and religious groups, as saying.

It did not elaborate. Xinhua said he made the comments in an interview with the BBC.

Zhu, who said there was no "suppression" in Tibet, added that the suspects "had enjoyed all legitimate rights based on Chinese law," Xinhua paraphrased him as saying.

"Local courts sent interpreters to help all rioters in the trial and ethnic background and religious beliefs were not considered when handing down sentences," Zhu said.

Rights groups say suspected rioters were subjected to harsh treatment in detention, and did not get fair trials.

China blames Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and his supporters for instigating the March 14 riots in Lhasa, which later spilled over into the rest of Tibet and neighboring Chinese provinces with Tibetan populations.

The Dalai Lama, who fled into exile in India in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule, has denied the allegations.

Zhu repeated China's stance that the Dalai Lama was not interested in peaceful protest.

"Many people died in the March 14 Lhasa riot, and he called it a peaceful protest ... is it the so-called non-violence?" Zhu said.

China has been stepping up its attacks on the Dalai Lama after the failure of the latest round of talks between Beijing and the Buddhist leader's representatives.

The Dalai Lama says he wants genuine autonomy for his Himalayan homeland.

But China reviles him as a separatist, and officials often accuse him of secretly harboring pro-independence sentiments that he has publicly rejected.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Jeremy Lurence)