A Spanish court on Tuesday
decided to drop a case against high-ranking Chinese political
and military officials on allegations of genocide in Tibet in
light of new legislation making it more difficult for
prosecutors to investigate crimes committed outside the
country's borders.
Spanish judge Ismael Moreno ordered the arrest of former
Chinese President Jiang Zemin, ex-premier Li Peng and three
others on February 10 on charges of genocide, torture and crimes
against humanity allegedly committed during the 1980s and 1990s
under Spain's recognition of the principle of universal
jurisdiction used to investigate human-rights abuses around the
world.
"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," Moreno wrote in
his ruling at the time.
However soon afterwards the Spanish parliament approved a
reform introduced by the conservative majority People's Party
(PP) of Premier Mariano Rajoy allowing judges to investigate
only alleged crimes committed by Spanish nationals or by
residents in Spain.
On Tuesday the National Court ruled to dismiss the case
with nine votes in favour and seven against.
The judges who voted against dropping the case argued that
the reform should be examined by the Constitutional Court.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
