Spain to probe ex-Chinese president Hu Jintao's alleged 'genocide' of Tibetans

A Spanish criminal court has decided to probe China's former President Hu Jintao's alleged `genocide` of Tibetans during his reign in the region.

Tibetan rights activists have blamed Hu Jintao of imposing martial law, carrying out forced deportations, mass sterilisation campaigns, and torture of dissidents, when he was the Communist Party leader of Tibet from 1988 to 1992, the BBC reports. The Madrid-based Tibetan Support Committee alleges that Jintao had an ultimate aim of eliminating the uniqueness and existence of Tibet as a country.

Judges said they were authorized to handle the case as one of the activists was a Spanish citizen. Tibet is an autonomous region, but Beijing has practiced sovereignty over the mountainous region since centuries. However, many Tibetans remain loyal to the exiled Buddhist spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.