Sirisena pledges legal action on war crimes

DPA/ColomboSri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday pledged to initiate legal action against anyone found responsible for war crimes during the final stages of the country’s civil war. Addressing foreign diplomats based in Colombo, Sirisena said he believed that a “domestic inquiry” was the best way to address the issues raised by the UN Human Rights Council. “In such a domestic inquiry, if credible and firm evidence emerges of any breach of international humanitarian law, the necessary action will be taken to bring such persons before the law,” Sirisena said. This is the first time since Sirisena was elected to power in January 8 elections that he has spoken about an inquiry into alleged war crimes. The comments came as a party representing Sri Lanka’s minority Tamils yesterday urged the United Nations to release as planned its report into the country’s civil war, and ignore a request from the new government to delay the document. “We call on the UN to continue” as planned, Suresh Premachandran, a member of parliament for the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), said. The UN report, due to be published next month, investigates allegations of war crimes during the country’s 26-year civil war against the Tamil separatist rebels in the north and northeast. “We are not satisfied with a local investigation into allegations of war crimes,” Premachandran said. Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera this week asked the UN to hold back publishing its report, saying the country was opening its own domestic probe. Abuses were reportedly committed by both sides, but accusations have focused on the alleged shooting of civilians by government troops in the closing stages of the conflict in 2009. The military says the Tamils massed human shields to halt the advance on their strongholds in the north. The TNA’s last-minute support of Sinhalese candidate Sirisena helped him secure a surprise win in the presidential polls. The new government has reiterated the previous administration’s commitment not to allow any top military officers to be brought before an international tribunal. Around 40,000 civilians were killed during the final stages of the conflict in the northern part of the country, the UN has said, before the rebels were crushed in May 2009.