Enforcing the 2002 verdict, the Monggar District Court handed life sentence to Rido on May 8. The district court’s decision to sentence Rido to life imprisonment 15 years later follows an order from the Supreme Court.
It has been learnt that the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) wrote to the Supreme Court on 10th March about the inconsistency in the enforcement of the judgment. The ACC had asked the judiciary to take necessary actions.
This prompted the Supreme Court to send an order to Monggar court following which Rido, now in his 50’s, was produced before the court on May 8 for sentencing.
In 2002, Monggar District Court convicted Rido of vandalizing two chortens in Monggar in 1996. But an ACC investigation uncovered that Rido’s life sentence was changed to 10 years when the present foreign minister who was then serving as Monggar Drangpon sent the conviction order to the police.
Rido completed his earlier prison term of 10 years in 2012 and has been home since. ACC investigated the foreign minister for alleged bribery but later dropped the case for lack of evidence.
Sources say Rido in 2012 appealed for conviction of three other friends who he alleged was involved in the vandalism of the two chortens. But his appeal was dismissed due to lack of evidence and witnesses to support his claims. The appeal was also not made within the 10-day appeal period.
