8 September 2008
A witness declares to the judge that the deaths and tortures committed by the Chinese Government continued during the Olympic Games (04/09). Original article in Spanishhttp://ecodiario.eleconomista.es/legislacion/noticias/734479/09/08/Tibet-Un-testigo-denuncia-ante-Pedraz-que-las-matanzas-y-torturas-del-Gobierno-chino-continuaron-durante-los-JJOO.html
The Director of the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) of the Tibetan Government in Exile, Urgen Tenzin, denounced yesterday to the judge of Spain’s special high court or Audiencia Nacional, Santiago Pedráz, that the deaths and torture perpetrated by the Chinese Government in Tibet continued throughout the celebration of the Olympic Games.
MADRID, 4 (EUROPA PRESS)
The director of the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) of the Tibetan Government, Urgen Tenzin, denounced yesterday to the judge of Spain’s special high court, Santiago Pedráz, that the deaths and torture perpetrated by the Chinese Government in Tibet continued throughout the celebration of the Olympic Games.
In a statement to the press after declaring before the judge, Mr Tenzin said the demonstrations “against the repressive Chinese policies” had led to more than 100 deaths and about 6,000 arrests. “Those arrested are subjected to inhuman torture”, he said, declaring that the situation had not improved after the Olympic Games. The plaintiffs – the Comité de Apoyo al Tibet (CAT), the private Foundation Casa del Tíbet, and Tubten Wangchen Sherpa Sherpa – presented the judge yesterday with a dvd film showing these acts of repression.
The director of the TCHRD is the first witness to declare in the lawsuit accepted by judge Pedráz on 5th August against Lian Guanglie, current Chinese Minister of Defence; Geng Huichang, Minister for State Security and vice Minister of Security; Zhang Qingli, Chinese Communist Party Secretary in the Autonomous Region of Tibet; Wang Lequan, member of the Politburo; Li Dezhu, head of the Ethnic Affairs Commission; general Tong Guishan, commander of the People’s Liberation Army in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet; and general Zhan Guihua, political commissar of the Chengdu military command.
Tenzin recommended that the judge go in person to Tibet or neighbouring India – where Tibetan refugees flee when leaving their country – in order to verify the data submitted to the court and take declarations from those who physically witnessed the repression. “It is now very difficult to obtain reliable information”, he declared, saying that the arrests had been caused by the Tibetans’ attempt to “defend their fundamental human rights”. “I hope this lawsuit will bring justice for the Tibetan people”, he added.
The declaration by the Security Minister of the Tibetan Government in Exile, scheduled for today, has been postponed due to the witness having other engagements. On 5th August the judge Pedraz accepted the competence of Spanish jurisdiction to investigate the acts denounced, as they constituted “crimes against humanity, committed against the Tibetan people”.
According to the organizations who filed the lawsuit, the Chinese authorities caused “at least 203 deaths, more than 1,000 seriously injured and 5,972 illegal arrests and forced disappearances”.
“WIDESPREAD AND SYSTEMATIC KILLING”
According to the plaintiffs, these seven high-ranking members of the Chinese Government ordered the “widespread and systematic killing” of the Tibetan population, together with “serious injuries, tortures and forced disappearances” committed since March 10th 2008. In the lawsuit they are accused of “the intentional killing or causing grievous bodily harm, forced disappearances, arrests and the loss of liberty in violation of international laws on these matters, and the tortures denounced”, while the Tibetan people are “a group or collective that is persecuted” by the Chinese authorities “for political, racial, national, ethnic or religious reasons or those of gender, or other reasons universally recognised as unacceptable under international law”.
The judge also asked the plaintiffs to submit to the court all the documentation they had on these acts and to give details of the posts held by each of the accused.
SECOND INVESTIGATION INTO TIBET
In addition to Pedráz’s investigation, the judge of the Nº 2 Central Court of the Audiencia Nacional, Mr Ismael Moreno, has a lawsuit open since January 2006 against former Chinese president, Jiang Zemin, and six other former Communist leaders in Tibet and the Chinese Government, after these same two organizations lodged a lawsuit for genocide committed since 1950.
In addition to Jiang, the other accused in this lawsuit are: Li Peng, former prime minister during the repression in Tibet; Chinese Communist Party Secretaries in Tibet: Ren Rong 1971-1980, Yin Fatang 1980-1985, and Chen Kuiyan 1992-2001; Deng Delyun, Family Planning Minister during the 90’s; and Chen Kuiyan, head of Chinese security and the People’s Armed Police during the repression at the end of the 80’s.