China threatens Spain over Tibet Lawsuits: Rights group[Friday, 21 August 2009, 11:49 a.m.]
Dharamshala: The
Chinese government has firmly refused a judicial request from a Spanish
court to try Chinese authorities responsible for their heavy-handed
approach to the peaceful protests in Tibet last year, a US-based human
rights group said.The security clampdown by Chinese security
forces and police across Tibet left more than 220 Tibetans dead and
over 1,294 were seriously injured. Over 5,600 were arrested, 290
sentenced and more than 1,000 have simply disappeared, as per
information received by the Central Tibetan Administration.In
August 2008, the Tibet Support Committee of Spain (Comite de Apoyo al
Tibet) and Fundacion Casa Del Tibet, Barcelona filed lawsuits against
eight Chinese leaders, including Zhang Qingli, Tibet Autonomous Region
Party, for the violent crackdown in Tibet. The complaints were
accepted by the Spanish High Court under the principle of “universal
jurisdiction,” a doctrine that allows courts to reach beyond national
borders in cases of torture, terrorism, genocide and crimes against
humanity, the International Campaign of Tibet (ICT) reported.In
his 5 May rulings, Spanish Judge Santiago Pedraz, who is handling the
case, had sought authorisation from China’s ministry of justice to
question the defendants in China should they refuse to do so before the
Spanish court.The judge said that if the accusations made in
the complaint were proven, then they would constitute crimes against
humanity under Spanish and international law. “The Tibetan population
would appear to be a group that is persecuted by the cited authorities
for political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious or other
motives universally recognised as unacceptable under international
law,” an AFP news report of 5 May 2009 quoted Mr Pedraz as saying.The
Chinese embassy in Madrid had shot off a letter to the Spain’s Ministry
of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation in Madrid on 16 June, terming the
judicial procedure as a “false lawsuit”.“The
acceptance of said false lawsuit by Spain’s Audiencia Nacional [High
Court] has violated the basic principles of state jurisdiction and
immunity established by international law and is not covered by the
Treaty on Judicial Assistance on Criminal Matters between China and
Spain. The Chinese party firmly refuses any request for judicial
assistance regarding this case, while demanding that Spain assumes her
responsibilities regarding international law, adopts immediate and
effective measures to prevent any violation of the Treaty on Judicial
Assistance in Criminal Matters between China and Spain and puts a stop
to said case as soon as possible,” the letter noted.The ICT
quoted unnamed sources as saying that a representative of the Chinese
Embassy in Madrid told Spanish officials that Judge Santiago Pedraz
would be arrested if he attempted to visit China.The Tibet
lawsuits are threatened by a resolution passed by Spain’s Congress on
19 May to limit the jurisdiction of judges to cases in which there is a
clear Spanish connection.Despite the ruling and continuing
pressure from China, Judge Pedraz has recently announced the extension
of one of the Tibet lawsuits to include an investigation into the
Nangpa pass shooting of September 2006, when 17-year old nun Kelsang
Namtso was shot dead by Chinese border forces while attempting to cross
Tibet’s border into exile. Judge Pedraz again asked the Indian
government for permission to travel to India in order to interview the
Tibetan witnesses of the Nangpa shooting. American climber, Luiz
Benitez, who witnessed Kelsang Namtso being fatally shot in the back as
she and other nuns, monks and children attempted to flee across the
Nangpa Pass, gave evidence on 17 July to Judge Pedraz at Spain’s High
Court.According to Spanish lawyers involved in the lawsuit, the
new ruling by the Spanish Congress on universal jurisdiction cases may
be formalized within the next few weeks. The impact on the Tibet
lawsuits depends on whether the law will be applied retroactively to
cases introduced before this period, which includes universal
jurisdiction cases relating to terrorists and drug dealers as well as
crimes against humanity.Related:FACT SHEET: Tibetan Deaths Under China’s Crackdown since March 2008
