Kelsang Tsering was formally arrested on 18 October 2008, in Chone: (Ch: Zhuoni), Gansu Province located in the southeast of (Ch: Gannan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, for the crime he is accused of having committed 11 years ago during the Tibetan protests that began on 17 March 2008. Later he was transferred to the procuratorate for prosecution on 7 January 2020.