Reuters News: Falun Gong files Spain genocide suit on China's Bo [Excerpt]

8 November 2005

Madrid, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement filed a genocide suit against Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai in Madrid's High Court on Tuesday in the hope of having him arrested if he visits Spain.

Lawyer Carlos Iglesias said the suit -- filed just before Chinese President Hu Jintao's state visit to Spain next week -- accused Bo of genocide and torture of Falun Gong practitioners when he was mayor of Dalian city and governor of Liaoning province.

Previous suits filed by the group were rejected by the Spanish High Court, which ruled it does not have jurisdiction over crimes committed abroad if Spaniards are not involved.

But last month Spain's highest judicial authority, the Constitutional Court, ruled that Spanish courts could try cases of foreign crimes even if there were no Spanish victims.

"If he steps on Spanish soil, Spanish jurisdiction has the power to arrest him," Iglesias said.

[...]

Spain's laws allowing the prosecution of crimes committed in other countries have led to several high profile cases in recent years.

Judge Baltasar Garzon tried, but failed, to bring the former Chilean dictator, President Augusto Pinochet, to trial while earlier this year the High Court sentenced a former Argentine navy captain to 640 years in jail for crimes against humanity.