DHARAMSHALA, JUNE 15: Spanish Parliamentarians have on Saturday appealed the Constitutional Court in Madrid to review the amendment regarding a Spanish law that limits the country’s judiciary power to try human rights abuses committed outside its territory.
The Spanish Socialist Party declared that the change in Spanish law in response to Chinese pressure over two Tibet lawsuits was “illegal and unconstitutional,” arguing that this development would put Spain in breach of its international obligations and offer the prospect of impunity to many responsible for serious crimes.
The action by the Spanish Socialists follows international pressure from other European Parliamentarians, lawyers and NGOs, including a joint appeal by the International Campaign for Tibet and Comité de Apoyo al Tibet. Soraya Rodriguez, the Socialist Party spokeswoman who announced the news of the appeal today, said that the international response to the reform had influenced their decision.
In February, a Spanish court judge issued an international arrest warrant for former Chinese leaders including Jiang Zemin and Li Peng on charges of genocide in Tibet. Judge Ismael Moreno had asked Interpol to issue the arrest warrants against the five Chinese leaders for alleged “genocide, torture and crimes against humanity.”
The five Chinese leaders are Jiang Zemin, former President and Party Secretary; Li Peng, Prime Minister during the repression in Tibet in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s (and the crackdown in Tiananmen); Qiao Shi, former head of Chinese security and responsible for the Peoples Armed Police during the martial law period in Tibet in the late 1980s; Chen Kuiyuan, Party secretary in the Tibet Autonomous Region from 1992 to 2001 (who was known for his hard-line position against Tibetan religion and culture), and Deng Delyun (also known as Peng Pelyun), minister of family planning in the 1990s.
However, the Spanish Parliament had voted in February in favor of a bill limiting the power of the judiciary to investigate human rights abuses committed outside the country. (With 179 votes to 163)
The ruling was deeply controversial both internationally and in Spain, where it made headlines and led to a national debate, with many Spaniards arguing that China should not be allowed to influence either domestic policy or international law. One hundred and twenty-two non-governmental organisations signed a statement calling on the Spanish Parliament to uphold its international legal commitments and ensure that any reforms to its universal jurisdiction laws are consistent with international law.
“After so much uncertainty, this appeal is great news not only for justice, but also for democracy. We cannot say this is a major victory, yet, but it is certainly an important step in the right direction that could yield concrete results. It will certainly make our leadership think twice about reversing this law on universal jurisdiction as it was written in the international treaties signed by Spain and most other countries,” said Alan Cantos of the Spanish Tibet support group, Comite de Apoyo al Tibet.
The International Campaign for Tibet welcomed the move by the Spanish Socialists calling it “an important first step” to resist Chinese pressure and to reaffirm the primacy of democratic institutions against the “blackmails of authoritarian governments.”
Matteo Mecacci, President of the International Campaign for Tibet, said today: “We welcome the action of the Spanish Socialists in challenging the government’s attempt to overturn such an important principle of international law. The result of the earlier vote by the Spanish Parliament underlined the unprecedented pressure that the Chinese government is imposing on European governments on Tibet, up to obtaining changes to the national legislation of a democratic country.”
