09 July 2008
Spanish lawsuit against Chinese leaders in Tibet
(Phayul) Spain's Comité de Apoyo al Tibet (CAT) filed an extension of a previous lawsuit, submitted to the Spanish High Court in January 2006 accusing Chinese leaders Li Peng, Jiang Zemin and five others of crimes of genocide, torture and terrorism against the Tibetan people. The extension claims that the actions of the Chinese authorities during and since the March unrest bears further legal proof and striking resemblance to the crimes denounced in their initial lawsuit. The extension names five political and military leaders that bear responsibility: Zhang Qingli, Party Secretary the TAR; Wang Lequan of the Politburo in Beijing; Li Dezhu, head of the Ethnic Affairs Commission; General Tong Guishan, commander of the PLA in Lhasa; and General Zhang Guihua, Political Commissar of the Chengdu military command. If held accountable, any of these leaders traveling to a country with which Spain has an extradition treaty could be detained.