Spain Parliament Moves to Curb Trials of Foreign Atrocities

Spain's parliament took the first steps Tuesday to reduce the power of the country's courts to probe human rights cases around the world, a practice that has irked some foreign capitals.

Spain's conservative Popular Party tabled a draft law last month that will limit the use of "universal jurisdiction", which allows judges to try certain cases of human rights abuses committed in other countries.

Since the doctrine passed into national law in 1985, crusading Spanish judges have used it to pursue U.S. soldiers in Iraq, Israeli defense officials and Argentine military officers.

While very few probes opened under the doctrine have seen people brought to trial in Spain, investigations have sparked diplomatic rows with some countries.

In a recent case, a Spanish judge on Monday sought international arrest warrants for former Chinese president Jiang Zemin and four other top Chinese officials as part of a probe into alleged genocide in Tibet.

That prompted a diplomatic protest from China, a significant economic partner of Spain, which said it was "strongly dissatisfied and firmly opposed" to the judge's move.

Under the bill tabled by the Popular Party, judges could investigate crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide only if the suspect is a Spanish national, a foreigner living in Spain or a foreigner in Spain whose extradition has been denied by Spanish officials.

Lawmakers will vote late on Tuesday whether to debate and put the bill to a vote.

The Popular Party has a comfortable majority in the assembly and the bill is assured to pass.

The existing legislation "promises much and generates great expectations" but "many years go by and no results are obtained and all we get are conflicts," Popular Party lawmaker Alfonso Alonso told reporters ahead of the vote on the draft bill.

Human rights group Amnesty International called the proposal "a step backwards in the fight against impunity for crimes under international law, for justice and human rights".

Spanish courts have investigated various cases under universal jurisdiction, notably over alleged atrocities during the dictatorships in Chile and Argentina.

The practice was reformed in 2009 to restrict such cases principally to ones involving Spanish victims or suspects present in Spain.

That change came after a case brought against Israel over bombings in Gaza in 2002, a lawsuit which raised diplomatic tensions.