Jan 15, 2005

Tibet: European Parliament Resoulution


The European parliament has asked China to step up the ongoing process of dialogue with the representatives of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. This was one of the calls made by the EP on China in a resolution passed yesterday in its house.
The European parliament has asked China to step up the ongoing process of dialogue with the representatives of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. This was one of the calls made by the EP on China in a resolution passed yesterday in its house.

The EP urged the Chinese government to immediately commute the death sentence passed on Trulku Tenzin Delek. The EP also called for an immediate moratorium on capital punishment in China.

Welcoming the statement of the Chinese authorities that a death sentence could be commuted to life in prison if the prisoner did not violate the law during the suspension period, the EP called on the Chinese government to put their statement into implementation.

The Chinese government was also urged by the EP to stop its continued violations of the human rights of the Tibetan people and other minorities and to ensure that it respects international standards of human rights and humanitarian law, as well as religious rights.

The EP had passed a resolution in November 2004 calling for an immediate review of Trulku Tenzin Delek’s case and commuting of his death sentence.

European Parliament resolution on Tibet

The European Parliament,

recalling its earlier resolutions on Tibet and the human rights situation in China,
having regard to its resolution of 18 November 2004[1] on Tibet, the case of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche,
having regard to the human rights dialogue between the EU and China,
having regard to religious freedom in China and in particular the case of Julius Jia Zhiguo, bishop of the northern Chinese province of Hebei,
having regard to Rule 115(5) of its Rules of Procedure,
A. whereas on 2 December 2002 the Kardze Intermediate People's Court in the Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province sentenced Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, an influential and respected Buddhist lama, to death with a two-year suspension and his attendant, Lobsang Dhondup, to death without suspension,

B. whereas the involvement of Tenzin Delek and Lobsang Dhondup in a series of bombings or in incitement to separatism has not been proven,

C. whereas 26 January marks the date on which Lobsang Dhondup was executed in 2003,

D. whereas the period of suspension of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche's execution will expire on 26 January 2005,

E. whereas under Chinese law the death sentence will be commuted to life imprisonment if the accused does not break the law again during the two-year suspension period,

F. whereas, at the request of the then European Council, the Council is currently re-examining the embargo on arms sales to China which was decided and implemented in 1989,

G. whereas the Chinese Government recently received representatives of His Holiness the Dalai Lama,

Reiterates its support for the rule of law and urges the Chinese government immediately to commute the death sentence handed down to Tenzin Delek Rinpoche;
Affirms its call for the abolition of the death penalty and an immediate moratorium on capital punishment in China;
Welcomes the statement by the Chinese authorities according to which anyone who is sentenced to death with a suspension of execution and commits no crime of intent during the period of suspension shall have their punishment commuted to life imprisonment on the expiration of the two-year period; calls on the Chinese judicial authorities to put this statement into practice through an official ruling;
Calls once more on the Government of the People's Republic of China to stop its continued violation of the human rights of the Tibetan people and other minorities and to ensure that it respects international standards of human rights and humanitarian law, as well as religious rights;
Calls on the Council and the Member States to maintain the EU embargo on trade in arms with the People's Republic of China and not to weaken the existing national limitations on such arms sales; considers that this embargo should be maintained until such time as the EU has adopted a legally binding Code of Conduct on Arms Exports and the People's Republic of China has taken concrete steps towards improving the human rights situation, inter alia by ratifying the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and by fully respecting the rights of minorities;
Calls on the Government of the People's Republic of China to step up the ongoing dialogue with the representatives of the Dalai Lama so as to reach a mutually acceptable solution to the Tibet issue without further delay;
Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the UN Secretary-General, the Chinese Government, the Governor of Sichuan Province, and the Chief Prosecutor of the Sichuan Provincial People's Procuratorate.

Source: Time of Tibet