Posted by Joseph Klingler \u2013 December 4, 2013 @ 02:14<\/p>\n
A Spanish court two weeks ago issued warrants for the arrest of former Chinese President Jiang Zemin\u00a0<\/b><\/a>and four other ex-officials as part of an inquiry into allegations of genocide in Tibet. Although no formal charges have been filed, the court ordered the arrests\u2014for purposes of questioning\u2014after noting<\/a>\u00a0the \u201c\u2018existence of signs of participation\u2019 in abuses\u201d by the former leaders implicated by the investigation.\u00a0 The allegations at least initially included claims of “genocide, crimes against humanity, torture and terrorism,\u201d\u00a0<\/b><\/a>and were brought under Spain\u2019s so-called \u201cuniversal jurisdiction\u201d statute.<\/p>\n Universal jurisdiction statutes<\/a>\u00a0allow courts to assert jurisdiction over individuals who have committed certain serious crimes\u2014including \u201cgenocide, crimes against humanity, torture, some war crimes, apartheid and slavery\u201d\u2014 believed to \u201charm the international community as a whole.\u201d \u00a0In its pure form, universal jurisdiction may be asserted regardless of the nationality of the suspect or victims, and regardless of where the crime was committed.\u00a0 Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel, and former dictator Augusto Pinochet of Chile, among others, have each\u00a0<\/b><\/a>faced controversial scrutiny under \u201cuniversal jurisdiction\u201d statutes of one form or another.\u00a0 An extensive, worldwide survey of universal jurisdiction legislation may be found here. Despite the frequency with which the phrase \u201cuniversal jurisdiction\u201d is invoked in reference to the Spanish law, its use may not be entirely apropos.\u00a0 Since its controversial amendment<\/a>\u00a0in 2009, the law now requires a nexus to Spain\u2014in this case the Spanish citizenship<\/a>\u00a0of one of the alleged victims\u2014and is therefore arguably no longer truly universal in character.<\/a> Whatever its jurisdictional basis, the move has already sparked significant political backlash.<\/a>\u00a0Chinese officials have requested \u201cclarification\u201d and, assuming reports of the warrants were accurate, \u201cexpress[ed China\u2019s] strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to [the] relevant agencies in Spain.\u201d If nothing else, China\u2019s rhetoric makes one thing clear: to the extent the 2009 amendment to Spain\u2019s \u201cuniversal jurisdiction\u201d statute was designed to avoid the sort of \u201cdiplomatic headache[s]\u201d created by \u201chigh profile investigations,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0it may not have gone far enough. But to those fearing<\/a>\u00a0that requiring a link to Spain would constrict \u201cone of the most hospitable fora for redress,\u201d arrest warrants in this particular case do little to assuage concerns that the amendment has already gone too far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Posted by Joseph Klingler \u2013 December 4, 2013 @ 02:14 A Spanish court two weeks ago issued warrants for the 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