DHARAMSHALA, February 12: In what appears to be a politically motivated move to keep trading ties with China thriving, Spanish Parliament (with 179 votes to 163) on Tuesday voted in favor of a law that will limit the ability of its judges to go after alleged human rights abusers around the world, much to the dismay of Tibetans and supporters around the world.
On Monday, 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.
In his order, the judge wrote, “Jiang exercised supervisory authority over the people who directly committed abuses, which makes him responsible for acts of torture and other major abuses of human rights perpetrated by his subordinates against the people of Tibet.”
Responding to the Spanish court’s order to issue arrest warrant against the Chinese leader, Alan Cantos of CAT said, “This is an important victory for Tibetans and highlights the shameful attempts by the Spanish government to amend the law. I hope it will inspire lawyers and victims to seek justice through other national courts in strong countries with solid democracies.”
However the Tibetan celebrations were short-lived as the Spanish Parliament voted in favour of a limit on its universal jurisdiction law over international crimes, irrespective of where they are committed, to cases against a Spaniard or foreign citizen who is on Spanish soil.
An online petition has been also launched urging the Prime Minister of Spain and leaders of European Union States to stand up for Tibet. So far, 8000 people have signed the petition.
Thubten Wangchen, Director of the Casa Del Tibet said, “The Chinese government is putting lots of pressure on the Spanish government. The Chinese government is trying to rule the Spanish government and is trying to force it to change laws and the Spanish government is listening to them.”
The court’s decision follows lengthy proceedings which started in 2005, when Tibetan activist groups, one of them headed by Wangchen, asked the court to hold seven Chinese state leaders responsible for crimes against humanity allegedly committed by the Chinese government in Tibet. Not surprisingly however, China denounced the trial proceedings.
