Sri Lanka says 'no' to foreign judges in war crimes probe

March 05, 2017 10:54 pm | Updated 10:57 pm IST - Colombo

“It is not a practical proposal to set up a hybrid court,” Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had said addressing a Law Conference in Colombo on Friday.

“It is not a practical proposal to set up a hybrid court,” Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had said addressing a Law Conference in Colombo on Friday.

The Sri Lankan government has rejected a fresh appeal from the United Nations to allow international judges to investigate alleged war crimes committed during the conflict with the LTTE, vowing to not prosecute soldiers.

The U.N. Human Rights Council on Friday had criticised Sri Lanka’s “slow” progress in addressing its wartime past and reiterated its earlier call for hybrid court of international and local judges to investigate allegations of rights violations.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe rejected the demand, saying it was impractical.

“It is not a practical proposal to set up a hybrid court. The demand came at a time when there was no international confidence in the local judiciary,” Mr. Wickremesinghe had said addressing a Law Conference in Colombo on Friday.

He said the conduct of the judiciary has improved under the current unity government headed by President Maithripala Sirisena and there was no need now for a hybrid court.

Mr. Sirisena himself addressing troops in the northern Jaffna peninsula on Sunday said he would not subject the Sri Lankan military personnel to any probe.

“I have clearly said that I am not prepared to serve charge sheets to our soldiers or to have foreign judges to try our security forces,” Mr. Sirisena said.

“It is my duty to protect the troops,” he said.

The U.N. rights chief’s report on Friday asked Sri Lanka to adopt legislation establishing a hybrid court with international judges, defence lawyers, prosecutors and investigators.

The Tamil minority insists on a probe with foreign judges, saying that the Sri Lankan judicial system could not be relied upon to deliver justice to Tamil victims of the conflict.

Last month, Sri Lanka said it needed more time to probe the alleged war crimes committed during the civil war and insisted that the proposed mechanism to deliver justice to the victims would be home-grown and not a copy of the South African model.

According to the U.N. figures, up to 40,000 civilians were killed by the security forces during former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s regime that brought the civil war to an end by defeating the LTTE.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.