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By APD writer Easwaran
COLOMBO, September 3 (APD) – Sri Lanka on Sunday assured it will protect a former Army Commander and troops facing war crimes allegations.
President Maithripala Sirisena
President Maithripala Sirisena said that he will not let anyone touch former Army Commander Jagath Jayasuriya or soldiers who fought the war against Tamil Tiger rebels.
The International Truth and Justice Project, a human rights group had filed war crimes charges in Brazil and Colombia against Jagath Jayasuriya, who just concluded his term as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador in Latin America.
Sri Lanka’s former Army Commander Jagath Jayasuriya
The International Truth and Justice Project had accused Jayasuriya of being involved in war crimes during the final phase of the civil war in 2009.
The United Nations estimated between 40 and 70 thousand Tamil civilians were killed in the last months of the Sri Lankan war and a 2015 UN Investigation found reasonable grounds to conclude the Sri Lankan military had committed systematicand widespread violations of international humanitarian law.
The lawsuit filed in Brasilia and Bogotá alleges that General Jayasuriya bears individual criminal responsibility as the commander of units that committed repeated attacks on hospitals, acts of torture and sexual violence, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings.
“It is an outrage that a man like this, named in UN reports, should be sent as a diplomat abroad and accredited given what he has done. The International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) and its Latin American partners would have liked to see the General stand trial but instead we understand he’s suddenly fled the region and returned to Sri Lanka,” said the ITJP’s executive director, South African human rights lawyer, Yasmin Sooka.
However President Maithripala Sirisena said he will not dance to the tune of non-governmental organisations.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
