Monday, July 03, 2006
Tibetan dissident to accuse Chinese of Torture & Genocide
By Clifford Coonan
Tenzin Tsundue, a Tibetan poet and activist, takes his fight to Britain today when he files a sworn testimony detailing atrocities he says he saw and experienced while in prison in the remote Himalayan region.Mr Tsundue's testimony is a stark litany of beatings and torture doled out during his imprisonment without trial in 1999, and will be submitted today to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office legalisation office, where it will be officially notarised.
The testimony is for a criminal suit filed in Spain's High Court by three Tibet support groups accusing former president Jiang Zemin and ex-parliament chief Li Peng, both of whom retired in 2003, of committing genocide and crimes against humanity in Tibet.
"Many European countries speak of peace and human rights and harmony. But on business they all cosy up to China, it's hypocritical. Through asking for justice in an international court I hope they will have second thoughts," Mr Tsundue said. "The Tibetan people should have the right to run their own country, not the Chinese people," he said.
The case accuses the retired leaders, who were in office during the 1980s and 1990s, of authorising massacres and torture in Tibet. The court could call for the Chinese government to arrest those accused of human rights abuse - and even impound their property.
Tibet has been under the control of China since 1950 when the People's Liberation Army marched into Tibet. Less than a decade laterthe Himalayan region's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, fled after a failed uprising. Tales of torture and abuse have abounded over the past four decades.
China has condemned the lawsuit, calling it absurd, and Beijing has accused Madrid of meddling in its affairs. Madrid is also investigating charges of genocide against the Falun Gong spiritual movement.
Emilie Hunter, a spoke-sperson for the Madrid-based Friends of Tibet Committee, said she hoped that the effect of filing the testimony in Britain would be to stimulate broader government and public interest in the issue. More....................
