Day: 11 July 2016

“As Long As I Am The President, No International Participation In Judicial Process” Sirisena Declares

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In what could be a visible setback to the country’s reconciliation process, President Maithripala Sirisena has declared that until he is the President of Sri Lanka, no foreign judges or courts will be part of any judicial process. Sirisena who has been adamant against any international participation in an accountability probe on war crimes allegedly carried out by both the military and the LTTE during the last stages of the war which reportedly killed some 40,000 civilians during 2009, reiterated his stand at an event held in Panadura on Friday.…

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Ex LTTE negotiator rejects assurances given by Sri Lanka

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A former LTTE peace negotiator, Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran, has rejected the assurances given by the Government to address the accountability issue related to the war. Rudrakumaran says based on the statements made by Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera in Geneva recently, Sri Lanka’s rationale for transitional justice is preposterous and the international community should insist that the Government changes it. “The High Commissioner in his oral report has, of course, noted some incremental progress in Sri Lanka’s measures for implementing the resolution. But he has also pointed out the danger of the commitment for justice…

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Briton ‘tortured’ in Sri Lanka returns to UK

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campaign to secure his release, The Guardian newspaper reported. Velauthapillai Renukaruban, 36, who lives in Ealing, west London, was freed from detention by the Government in the south Asian country after the Foreign Office, a top human rights lawyer in Sri Lanka and a campaign by his family in London helped to secure his freedom. Renukaruban arrived in the country of his birth on 1 June to marry Thajeepa Vinayagamoorthy, 27, in an arranged marriage. They planned to marry on 8 June and a small family party had been arranged.…

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No-Faith motion against Mangala

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BY SHAAHIDAH RIZA Joint Opposition member and United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) MP Udaya Gammanpila said that a No-confidence motion against the Foreign Minister will be imminent if the President does not take necessary steps. Reports indicate that the Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera is still of the view that foreign Judges must be employed for war crimes tribunal, despite the President’s statement last week assuring the public that only local Judges would be employed for this purpose. “The President should remove him or he should resign. If none of those…

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“Implement fully 13 Amendment”

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The Northern Province CM fielded S. Thavarajah to place his case on the system before the Steering Committee of the Constitutional Assembly. In an attempt by the Northern Province to present a picture of unity on constitutional reforms in Sri Lanka, Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran has fielded Leader of Opposition in the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) S. Thavarajah to place his case on the importance of adopting federal system before the Steering Committee of the Constitutional Assembly. Though the Province’s Education Minister, T. Gurukularajah, also took part in the deliberations…

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‘War crimes’, duplicity and rhetoric

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British Minister of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Hugo Swire, in his address to Parliament on Sri Lanka’s Human Rights situation on Thursday, reiterated there had to be an international element in the domestic mechanism for accountability. That was necessary, he said, to reassure the communities in Sri Lanka and to show the international community that it was a credible process. Doesn’t Swire think there should be an international probe into the atrocities against civilians during the Iraq war which was illegal according to the recently released Chilcot…

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