This week in Shanghaiist
On August the 5th the Spanish National Court agreed to hear a lawsuit accusing the Chinese government of genocide in Tibet. According to SBS World News Australia the suit was filed on July 9 against seven Chinese leaders, including Defence Minister Liang Guanglie, by the Tibet Support Committee and two other Tibetan groups. The lawsuit relates to the unrest in Tibet in March this year where, according to the Tibetan government-in-exile, 203 Tibetans were killed. According to Beijing though, only one Tibetan died during the unrest. Spain's National Court is able to try this kind of case under the principal of "universal competence" adopted by the Spanish judiciary in 2005, which allows countries courts to hear cases of genocide and crimes against humanity wherever they occur and whatever the nationality of the defendant. Hmm.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
post to facebookTips
Latest Video
Contribute
Latest Tip:
Obama and America’s banker Hu-Jintao
November 17, 2009 by politicalsnapshots.wordpress.com
Obama
[more]
Tax money well spent for Spaniards.
This is not the first time. Two years they did the same thing about another genocide in Tibet. What happened in the end?
Looking forward to Daliar the Hollywood monk to hand over a detailed list of 203 deads in Lhasa ethnic cleansing which his convoy repeatedly failed to show.
I even agree to include 22 killed Han Chinese in the list to make his work easier.
Spain = useless, like much of Europe.
What effect would Spain's trial have other than piss more people off?
Spain isn't an international body such as The Hague and as such has no authority or jurisdiction over matters that have no relation to Spain. Where does Spain get off to be this pretentious?
What a bunch of self-congraulatory nonsense. How about actually trying to change something Spain?
Say what you will, but Pinochet was brought to justice because of this kind of thing.
The idea of an international justice system for crimes against humanity is important.
Wouldn't it be better, for example, if China could successfully get Japan to finally admit its past war crimes and make some real reparations?
I'm not assuming the charge of "genocide" is accurate or that this particular trial will result in more than a political sideshow, but the principle of an international justice system is essential to a better, more equitable world.
As an American, I'm outraged that the Bush Administration has rejected the International Criminal Court, though it's all too clear why they have--I'm sure they'd all be found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity in a fair trial.
Yeah, it's not gonna happen any time soon (or ever), but that doesn't mean people shouldn't carry on the cause of establishing an international justice system.
xibanya jia you
Oh yeah. And free the Basques and free Catalonia. (Just beating somebody else to the punch... there is a bit of hypocrisy in the whole thing, seeing as Spain has its own restive minorities, but I still think the principle is too important to dismiss simply because of a bit of hypocrisy).
Just an update. Another case of same nature is still open at the same court under different judge since 2006.
Why don't they try themselves first for killing all the native americans.
Chinese court can also try El Presidente de Gobierno, Senor Jose Luis Zapatero, y su cabinete for genocide committed against Basque and Catuluna separatists.
The Chinese court could be easily bought off with the transfer of some Spanish AIP submarines.
The peace loving french people are cheering this action!
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jOlufsBxNXIw5nXaUj6N_f1QVvuQ
Don't get me wrong, I still love the frenchies. Most of them anyway.
On a side note, can gamey body odor spread independent of air? I'm sure our resident expert knows the answer.
once again.. Spain, like much of Europe, is useless - the cause of most sufferings around the world. The europeans comes in, loot its riches and then leave the country and its people in shambles.
i'm just wondering when spain will get tried for the genocide of millions of native americans (including the aztecs, inca, etc.)
It got them featured in Shanghaiist.com didn't it?
i can't remember the last time when the spanish were relevant to the world
The pathetic Spanish courts is not the Hague.
"the suit was filed ... by the Tibet Support Committee and two other Tibetan groups"
As far as can tell, bashing the Spanishes about the Basques or the Indian Americans is a poor argument. Especially since the Tibet Support Committee is a Danish group and that the case could have been filled under the same terms in La Haye or in Belgium.
Like WatchBagDVD said, having an international justice system is important. And going to court does not mean you are right.
What is certainly going to happen is that those Tibetan groups are going to be debunked by the court, meaning the court recognizes that this is not a case of genocide.
To me this does not seem to bad for the Chinese government, does it?
google Yuanming Yuan