Sri Lanka: Government is "guilty of War-Crimes" and "guilty of Crimes Against Humanity."

Dublin war-crimes tribunal, conducted by Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) based in Milan, which held hearings on Thursday and Friday on war-crime charges on Sri Lanka from eye-witnesses and other material evidence, in the preliminary findings issued Saturday said, Sri Lanka Government is "guilty of War-Crimes" and "guilty of Crimes Against Humanity."

The tribunal also concluded that the charge of Genocide requires further investigations. Eye witnesses included several escapees from the final week of Sri Lanka offensive in the Mullaitivu "No Fire Zone" where more than 20,000 Tamil civilians were allegedly slaughtered by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) training heavy weapons on them.

Full text of the press release issued in Dublin follows:

DUBLIN TRIBUNAL FINDS AGAINST SRI LANKA ON CHARGES OF WAR CRIMES

In Dublin today at 2 pm the Peoples Tribunal chairman Francois Houtart read the preliminary findings of the Peoples Tribunal on the war in Sri Lanka and its aftermath. There are 4 findings:

That the Sri Lankan Government is guilty of war crimes

That the Sri Lankan Government is guilty of crimes against humanity

That the charge of genocide requires further investigation

That the International Community, particularly the UK and USA, share responsibility for the breakdown of the peace process.

Harrowing evidence including video footage was submitted by eye witnesses of the use of heavy artillery and phosphorous munitions, and of the continuous violation of human rights by military activity to a panel of 10 international jurors over two days. Irish members of the jury were Denis Halliday and Mary Lawlor.

The Irish Forum for Peace in Sri Lanka welcomed the preliminary findings of the tribunal. Responding to the findings the forum issued the following five demands:

We call on the Sri Lankan Government to all the UN to conduct an inquiry into war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated during the final stages of the war between the Sri Lankan Armed Forces and the LTTE, and during the war's aftermath.

We call on the Sri Lankan Government to release all those being detained in concentration camps and the estimated 11,000 people being held secretly at unknown locations.

We call on the Sri Lankan Government to end the use of extra-judicial killings, sexual violence and the deprivation of food and water as weapons against a civilian populatiion.

We call on the Sri Lankan Government to end the suppression of political dissent by violence or other means.

We call on the Sri Lnkan Government to fully implement human rights for all citizens of Sri Lanka and a political solution involving the full participation of the Tamil population, ending the systematic historical discriminatory measures of the Sri Lankan state against the Tamil people.

The Irish Forum for Peace in Sri Lanka asserts that long term peace and stability can only be established on the basis of full justice and rights for all the inhabitants of the island.

Sunday, 17 January 2010

Trinco executions added to Sri Lanka's war crimes record in Dublin

[ Wednesday, 20 January 2010, 02:15.35 AM GMT +05:30 ]

An affidavit containing the personal testimony of Dr Manoharan, the father of Ragihar, one of the five high school students shot dead in execution style in Trincomalee beach nearly four years ago by members of Sri Lanka security forces.

And two detailed reports of evidence collected on the killings by a Rights Group whose members are in self-exile due to threat to their lives, were submitted as record of evidence to the Dublin war-crimes tribunal hearing concluded on the 16th of this month, US-based pressure group Tamils Against Genocide (TAG) said Tuesday. Dr Manoharan and the surviving members of the family were relocated to UK with the assistance of a UN organization after the killings to escape intimidation by the Sri Lanka security forces against Dr Manoharan legally pursuing the killers of his son. The report documents the names and the date of birth of the five students killed on 2nd January 2006 in Trincomalee, a big harbor town under the control of and heavily garrisoned by the Sri Lanka security forces, as: Manoharan Ragihar 22.09.1985 Yogarajah Hemachchandra 04.03.1985 Logitharajah Rohan 07.04.1985 Thangathurai Sivanantha 06.04.1985 Shanmugarajah Gajendran 16.09.1985 Dr Manoharan's affidavit details the events of 2nd January 2006 from the time Ragihar left his home at 6:00 p.m. to visit the Ganesha temple to attend the Hindu's customary festival during new year fasting, the hearing of explosion at around 7:35 p.m., Ragihar's call to his father on the cell phone informing him that soldiers were around him, desperate and failed attempts to get through the checkpoint to see if his son was there near the Gandhi statue, to the time he identified Ragihar's body in the hospital. The affidavit further describes the interaction with the security forces and the attempt by Minister of Human Rights Mr Samarasinghe in April of 2006 offering Dr Manoharan family a "nice house in Colombo," "a nice school" for his children, encouraging him to "move on after the incident." The report identifies Superintendent of Police, Kapila Jayasekere, naval officer Udawatte Weerakody, "leader of the killer team" Vas Perera, DIG Abeywardena, and DIG and JHU member HMGB Kotakadeniya as culpable individuals for the crime among other higher level officials, military and political, who bear command responsibility established by the Hague Conventions IV (1907) and X (1907) for war crimes. Two complete investigative reports dated 19th April 2007 and 2nd January 2010 and produced by UTHR, a Rights Group in Sri Lanka whose members are in exile, were included in the submission to provide the tribunal judges a full account of information available on the alleged war-crime by Sri Lanka security forces.