by Denholm Barnetson
MADRID (AFP) - Spain's top criminal court agreed Tuesday to hear a
lawsuit from Tibetan rights groups that accuses Chinese leaders of
genocide in connection with the unrest that erupted in the region in
March.
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The suit was filed on July 9 against seven Chinese leaders, including
Defence Minister Liang Guanglie, by the Tibet Support Committee and
two other Tibetan groups.

It was admitted under the principle of "universal competence" adopted
by the Spanish judiciary in 2005 and under which Spanish courts can
hear cases of genocide and crimes against humanity wherever they occur
and whatever the nationality of the defendant.

Spain's National Court, which handles crimes against humanity and
genocide, said it "accepts the competence of Spanish jurisdiction to
investigate the reported events."

The court's decision comes just three days before the opening of the
Beijing Olympics, which has seen China facing unprecedented
international scrutiny.

The director of the Tibet Support Committee, Alan Cantos, said he was
overjoyed at the news.

"We are stunned with joy for the victims and the Tibetan people, for
justice in general and the repercussions it may have in this passive
world of political fickleness, economic greed and general passivity in
front of powerful giants," he told AFP.

The lawsuit "denounces the new wave of oppression that began in Tibet
on 10th March 2008, and just goes to prove that acts of genocide
continue to be committed against the Tibetan people," the Tibet
Support Committee said in a statement issued when it filed the
complaint last month.

It also "denounces China's manipulation of the global war against
terrorism in its attempt to justify and cover up crimes against
humanity committed against the Tibetan people."

Other Chinese officials named in the suit were Minister for State
Security Geng Huichang, Communist Party Secretary in Tibet Zhang
Qingli, Politburo member Wang Lequan, Ethnic Affairs Commission head
Li Dezhu, People's Liberation Army Commander in Lhasa General Tong
Guishan and Zhang Guihua, political commissar in the Chengdu military
command.

The groups filing the suit were ordered to appear before the court on
September 4 and 10.

Unrest in Tibet erupted on March 14 after four days of peaceful
protests against Chinese rule.

The Tibetan government-in-exile says 203 Tibetans were killed and
about 1,000 hurt in China's crackdown. Beijing insists that only one
Tibetan was killed and has in turn accused the "rioters" of killing 21
people.

The crackdown sparked international protests that dogged the month-
long global journey of the Olympic torch in April.

The suit accepted by the Spanish court Tuesday was an extension to
another complaint filed by the Tibet Support Committee in 2006.

That suit accuses Chinese leaders, including former president Jiang
Zemin and former prime minister Li Peng, of torture and crimes against
humanity as well as genocide allegedly carried out in Tibet during the
1980s.

The National Court has been hearing that case since June 2006.

China's opponents accuse Beijing of systematic political, cultural and
religious oppression in the remote and devoutly Buddhist Himalayan
region.

China has condemned the accusations of genocide in Tibet as slander
and it has accused Madrid of trying to interfere in its administration
of the Himalayan region.

China has ruled Tibet since 1951, a year after sending troops in to
"liberate" the region.

An exile group, the New York-based Students for a Free Tibet, said
last week that pro-Tibet campaigners will be in Beijing and will
attempt to stage peaceful protests during the Olympics, despite
stringent restrictions at the event.

The president of the Spanish Olympic Committee, Alejandro Blanco, has
warned Spain's athletes they risk being expelled from the Beijing
Games if they make "political statements".