Spain’s national court, acting on a suit filed by Spanish pro-Tibet groups, issued arrest warrants for former Chinese President Jiang Zemin and four other top authorities as part of an investigation into alleged human rights abuses in Tibet.
The arrest orders follow an eight-year investigation, launched by the court on the basis of a principle known as universal jurisdiction, claiming that China had committed genocide in Tibet. The court said there was sufficient evidence against the five officials to have them appear for questioning.
The court orders means the former Chinese leader and other officials could face arrest if they travel to Spain or other countries that have an extradition treaty with Spain. Legal experts said that there was a highly remote possibility of the warrants ever actually being executed but that the ruling would have symbolic impact in casting a further spotlight on human-rights issues in Tibet, The Wall Street Journal informs.
Besides Jiang Zemin, warrants were issued for former Chinese Prime Minister Li Peng ; Qiao Shi, a longtime police and intelligence official; Chen Kuiyan, ex-Communist Party secretary in Tibet; and Peng Peiyun, China’s former minister of family planning. The court said it issued the warrants based on the “existence of signs of participation” in abuses “given the political or military responsibility of each one of them during the long period in which the facts that are under investigation occurred.”
