Hu Jintao Stepped down as president this year march.

Spain's top criminal court has decided to hear
a case brought by Tibetan rights activists who
allege that China's former President Hu Jintao
committed genocide in Tibet.

Judges ruled that they were competent to handle the
case because one of the activists, Tibetan monk
Thubten Wangchen, is a Spanish citizen.
Hu Jintao was the Communist Party leader in Tibet in
1988-1992, when Chinese troops quelled mass
protests.

China imposed martial law in Tibet.

The remote mountainous territory is an autonomous
region ruled by Beijing.

In their lawsuit against Hu Jintao the Madrid-based
Tibetan Support Committee allege that as
Communist leader in the region he was ultimately
responsible for actions "aimed at eliminating the
uniqueness and existence of Tibet as a country,
imposing martial law, carrying out forced
deportations, mass sterilisation campaigns, torture of
dissidents".

The Spanish legal system recognises the universal
justice principle, under which genocide suspects can
be put on trial outside their home country. But for
Spain to hold the trial there is a requirement that at
least one victim of alleged genocide must be a
Spanish citizen.

Beijing claims a centuries-old sovereignty over Tibet,
but many Tibetans remain loyal to the exiled
Buddhist spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. He is seen
by his followers as a living god, but by China as a
separatist threat.

Genocide, the gravest crime against humanity, is
understood to mean actions aimed at the mass
extermination of a whole group of people.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24490004