(TibetanReview.net, Jul19, 2014) –The main petitioner in the Tibet genocide lawsuits against five retired leaders of China, including two former presidents, has vowed to appeal a Jun 23 High Court ruling which upheld by a 9-7 vote a parliamentary annulment of those cases. Calling the National Court’s decision a result of “blatant and shameful” capitulation to pressure from Beijing, Comite de Apoyo al Tibet (CAT) said it will appeal to the country’s Constitutional Court and thence possibly to the Supreme Court, reported Radio Free Asia (Washington) Jul 17.
CAT’s director Alan Cantos has said the court’s decision to close the cases reflected strong disagreement among the ruling judges and there were many judges who were questioning it. He has also noted that the parliament‘s decision to severely limit the court’s universal justice jurisdiction, whose aim was to annul the two ongoing Tibet genocide cases, was already being challenged in parliament itself by the Spanish Socialist Party.
It was earlier reported that the Socialist Party had submitted an appeal to Spain’s Constitutional Court in Madrid on Jun 13, seeking to annul the Feb 2014 parliamentary curtailment of the judiciary’s universal justice jurisdiction.
The parliamentary amendment came shortly after the National Court had issued international arrest warrants against the five Chinese leaders through the Interpol, including against former President Jiang Zemin and former Premier Li Peng. An indictment order had also been delivered before that against former President Hu Jintao.
China’s foreign ministry on Jun 23 welcomed Spain’s dismissal of the cases against the former Chinese leaders and referred to the two countries’ “traditional friendship” and their “respect and support” for each other’s “core interests and concerns”.