Senate chairman refuses to meet head of Tibetan government

Prague, Oct 10 (CTK) - Czech Senate chairman Milan Stech (Social Democrats, CSSD) has refused to meet chairman of the Tibetan government-in-exile Lobsang Sangay within his stay in the Czech Republic, Stech said in a press release Wednesday.

Stech dismissed as false the statement by senator Jaromir Stetina (TOP 09) that he had banned other lawmakers from the meeting with Lobsang Sangay.

"Stech has stressed that he has never given and will never give any instruction on senators' activities both inside and outside the Senate soil," Senate press secretary Pavlina Hermankova has said.

She said Stech had only "rejected the possibility of a personal meeting with the chairman of the Tibetan government-in-exile."

Stetina said on Tuesday Stech had forbidden a meeting with Sangay to lawmakers from the Group of Tibet's Friends in the seat of the upper house.

"He did this after yesterday's intervention of the Chinese ambassador, arguing that such a meeting would threaten Czech-Chinese trade relations," Stetina said.

Lobsang Sangay is to come to the Forum 2000 conference, to be held in Prague on October 21-23.

The conference will be devoted to the relation of democracy and the media.

It will also deal with the legacy of late Czech president Vaclav Havel in the sphere of democracy and human rights.

Sangay became the head of the Tibetan government-in-exile, seated in Dharamsala, north India, last September.

He said the Tibetans thus ended a 300-year tradition under which their spiritual leader, the Dalai Laima, is also their political leader.