The monk was arrested after nuns at his temple protested against a crackdown on Tibetan Buddhism following anti-China riots that erupted in Lhasa in 2008 and spread through the Himalayan region, lawyer Jiang Tianyong told AFP.

Phurbu Tsering Rinpoche "was charged with illegal possession of ammunition and embezzlement, but he denied all charges," Jiang said.

"He was tried in April and the sentence had been scheduled to be read out days later, but for some unknown reason it was postponed until December 23," he added.

The 53-year-old monk has not decided if he will appeal the verdict, Jiang said.

The court in the Garze region of southwest China's Sichuan province did not allow Jiang or the lama's other lawyer to attend the verdict hearing, according to the lawyer.

When the lama was arrested, in May 2008, rights groups said that about 100 bullets had been planted by police in his home in an attempt to silence the monk at a time when anti-China sentiment in the region was growing.

According to the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, the arrest of the prominent and "highly regarded" religious figure brought tremendous grief to Tibetan Buddhists in Garze, where he preached.

China said 20 people had been killed by Tibetan rioters when turmoil broke out in Lhasa in early March 2008. The Tibetan government-in-exile claimed that over 200 people were killed and some 1,000 hurt in the unrest and crackdown.

At least 5,700 people were arrested during the period, the government has said, with many Buddhist monks given long prison terms.

Chinese troops invaded Tibet in 1950 and officially annexed the region a year later. The Dalai Lama, who fled his homeland following the 1959 uprising, has repeatedly accused Beijing of widespread rights violations there.

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.