The Chinese government has firmly refused a judicial request from a Spanish court to try Chinese authorities responsible for their heavy-handed approach to the peaceful protests in Tibet last year, a US-based human rights group said.
In a document sent by Chinese authorities to the Spanish National Court, Beijing officials turned down a request by a judge to question eight Chinese leaders, and called on the Spanish government to take "immediate and effective steps to prevent any abusive use of a mutual justice cooperation agreement and close as soon as possible this inquiry".
In August 2008, the Tibet Support Committee of Spain (Comite de Apoyo al Tibet) and Fundacion Casa Del Tibet, Barcelona filed lawsuits against eight Chinese leaders, including Zhang Qingli, Tibet Autonomous Region Party, for the violent crackdown in Tibet. The complaints were accepted by the Spanish High Court under the principle of "universal jurisdiction," a doctrine that allows courts to reach beyond national borders in cases of torture, terrorism, genocide and crimes against humanity, the International Campaign of Tibet reported.
Some information for this report was provided by TibetNet.