26. Feb 2010
Spain drops probe into Tibet crackdown
(AFP) A Spanish judge has dropped an investigation into Beijing's crackdown on unrest in Tibet in March 2008, judicial sources said. The probe was the result of a suit filed by the Tibet Support Committee, against eight Chinese leaders, including Defence Minister Liang Guanglie and Minister for State Security Geng Huichang. Judge Santiago Pedraz had agreed to hear the case in August 2008, just before the opening of the Beijing Olympics. He was acting under Spain's principle of "universal competence" under which Spanish courts can hear cases of crimes against humanity wherever they occur. Pedraz was forced to drop the case as a result of limitations imposed on that principle by the Spanish parliament in 2009 following diplomatic pressure from a number of countries. The parliament decided to restrict such cases to those involving Spanish victims or those in which the suspects are on Spanish soil. The director of the Tibet Support Committee, Alan Cantos, expressed regret at the ruling and said his organisation planned to appeal.