E/CN.4/1999/58 page 15 one Thinley Yoezer of the Drametse Buddhist school was the main person responsible for inciting and instigating people in eastern Bhutan. It was on his directives that many active collaborators spread false and malicious allegations against the Royal Government, conducted several meetings and plotted to take up seditious activities in eastern Bhutan. To finance these activities, Thinley Yoezer received a total sum of Nu 125,000 and a large amount of seditious literature from subversive elements in Nepal.” It was also explained that monasteries, like other places of worship, could not be closed, and that a few recently-established schools of religious study had been closed following an inspection which showed that they failed to meet the minimum criteria with regard to curricula, teachers and premises; the schools would be allowed to reopen when these conditions had been met. Bulgaria 46. An atmosphere of intolerance in the Bulgarian media and society is said to be adversely affecting minorities in the field of religion and belief (Muslims, Jehovah's Witnesses, Church of God, Emmanuel Bible Center). China 47. It is alleged that the authorities in the Tibet Autonomous Region interfere with religious beliefs and practices (forced re-education campaign for monks and nuns, limitation of their number in places of worship, prohibition of photos of the Dalai Lama, detention of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, who has been recognized by the Dalai Lama as the Panchen Lama). One communication concerns Yulo Dawa Tsering, a Tibetan monk whom the Special Rapporteur met when he visited China in 1995 (E/CN.4/1995/91, paras. 115 and 175-177). An urgent appeal followed by reminders, alleging that the monk was being detained, had been sent in the context of preceding reports (E/CN.4/1997/91, para. 10; E/CN.4/1998/6, para. 67). The Chinese authorities had replied that Yulo Dawa Tsering had enjoyed all the civil rights set forth in the Chinese Constitution since the end of the period of conditional release. This latest communication contains information alleging police surveillance of Yulo Dawa Tsering, who is reportedly unable to continue residing in his monastery at Ganden or travel to his university at Lhassa. 48. China replied that the Government respected religious freedom, as the law required, and did not interfere in the Tibetan people's religious freedom. Concerning the patriotic re-education movement, it explained that, as citizens of the People's Republic of China, Buddhist monks and nuns were duty-bound to undergo patriotic re-education. It stated that religion must adapt to the local society and to its development and operate within the confines of the Constitution and laws. The patriotic re-education being conducted in Tibet's temples and monasteries was not intended to restrict the masses' right to religious freedom but to establish good order and guarantee freedom of religion. Lastly, patriotic re-education enjoyed the approval of Buddhist monks and nuns and the religious public, and there had been no instances of arrests or expulsions of monks or nuns. The decline in the number of Tibetan monks and nuns was explained as follows: (a) the 1,787 restored and newly-opened places of worship, with their 4,600 resident monks and nuns, were