By Kalsang Rinchen
Dharamsala, January 22 – Chinese president Hu Jintao’s high profile visit this week to US and his meetings with Obama, American business leaders and other engagements made international news as the whole world watched Hu on TV and read about his visit. Along with Hu, Tibet also got its share of attention, courtesy Hu’s remarks about Tibet being an internal affair of China and his stern warning against Obama administration to stay out of China’s “internal matters” including Tibet and Taiwan, and the protests by Tibetans against Hu.
Meanwhile, another major international news also gave Tibet its share of attention though not as visible as Hu’s remarks. Rudolf Elmer, who is fighting a legal battle against charges of breaking Swiss bank laws by providing 2,000 offshore bank accounts to Julian Assange of Wikileaks, is a client of a lawyer of Tibetan origin, Ganden Tethong Blattner.
Ganden Tethong appeared alongside Elmer on Wednesday in a Swiss court in Zurich and said her client was fighting a battle of ”David against Goliath”. She argued that the Julius Baer Bank & Trust Co., where Elmer worked is registered under Cayman law, and isn’t subject to Swiss secrecy laws. Judge Sebastian Aeppli fined Elmer 7,200 Swiss francs ($7,500) which was suspended for two years and ordered Elmer to pay 75 percent of the costs. The verdict has been appealed, according to Tethong Blattner, the law firm representing Elmer.
Born in Trogen, Switzerland, to Rakra Tethong, a well known Tibetan writer and scholar, and Dolma, Ganden is 46. Her parents moved to Switzerland in 1960, and became the first Tibetans to settle in Europe.
With her husband Lucius Blattner, she runs a law firm in Zurich called Tethong Blattner.
Ganden Tethong finished her Masters degree in law studies in 1991 from Zurich University. She completed her Masters in Criminology in 1995. She started practice as a lawyer and licenced attorney at law in 1995. She is a member of Swiss Bar Association. She became a Certified Fraud Examiner in 2002.
Ganden is an active member of the Tibetan Community in Switzerland. She served as president of Tibetan Youth Association in Europe between 1993 and 1994, and offers legal counseling to the Tibetan institutions in Switzerland.
