{"id":156197,"date":"2016-01-23T13:27:22","date_gmt":"2016-01-23T07:57:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=156197"},"modified":"2016-01-23T13:27:22","modified_gmt":"2016-01-23T07:57:22","slug":"itjp-enraged-by-president-sirisenas-insults-to-un-inquiry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/itjp-enraged-by-president-sirisenas-insults-to-un-inquiry\/","title":{"rendered":"ITJP Enraged By President Sirisena’s Insults To UN Inquiry"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n

\u201cIt is disappointing to see the new President defame all those who allege there are still ongoing violations as linked to the LTTE\u201d, this is the sort of rhetoric and denial we\u2019d hoped would change.\u201d says the\u00a0Executive Director of the International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP), Yasmin Sooka.<\/p>\n

\"Yasmin<\/a>

Yasmin Sooka – Executive Director – International Truth & Justice Project – Sri Lanka<\/p><\/div>\n

Issuing a statment regarding President Maithripala Sirisena\u2019s remarks in recent BBC interview the ITJP said;\u201cThe High Commissioner is right: international involvement is essential for victims and witnesses to have trust in the justice process because Sri Lanka has such a long history of failed domestic processes.\u201d<\/p>\n

We publish below the statement in full;<\/p>\n

The International Truth and Justice Project is deeply concerned that Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena appears to be rolling back on his commitment in Geneva to include international involvement in a future judicial mechanism. In an interview with the BBC yesterday, the President reportedly stated, “I will never agree to international involvement in this matter”.<\/p>\n

This flies in the face of the recommendation of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights that Sri Lankan establish \u201can ad hoc hybrid special court, integrating international judges, prosecutors, lawyers and investigators\u201d. High Commissioner Zeid Ra\u2019ad Al Hussein, who is due to visit Sri Lanka shortly, has been very clear about the \u201ctotal failure of domestic mechanisms to conduct credible investigations\u201d in Sri Lanka3.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe High Commissioner is right: international involvement is essential for victims and witnesses to have trust in the justice process because Sri Lanka has such a long history of failed domestic processes,\u201d said ITJP Executive Director Yasmin Sooka.<\/p>\n

ITJP is also shocked that the Sri Lankan President should question that crimes took place after the detailed and graphic revelations of the year-long OHCHR Investigation, as well as reports by many other credible international and Sri Lankan organisations. We note the BBC reported that President Sirisena said, \u201cit was important to determine whether such crimes actually took place\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an insult to the thousands of victims and witnesses who testified to the UN inquiry and other bodies,\u201d said Yasmin Sooka, adding, \u201cit\u2019s rather late in the day to question whether crimes took place\u201d.<\/p>\n

President Sirisena also suggested in his BBC interview that because the UN did not specify names of alleged perpetrators, there was some doubt about the allegations.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust because the UN decided from the outset not to mention names of alleged perpetrators does not mean they do not have such information. It is usual for an UN inquiry not to disclose the names but to hand this over to a credible prosecutorial body when established. Quite frankly enough evidence exists already for a tribunal, if it\u2019s run in a way that protects witnesses,\u201d said Sooka.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

President Sirisena also dismissed reports that the Sri Lankan security forces have continued to abduct, torture and sexually violate Tamil detainees during his period in office. He said such reports came from people \u201cclose to the Tamil Tigers\u201d.<\/p>\n

ITJP documented twenty such cases that occurred in 2015, while Freedom From Torture has an additional 7 cases that do not overlap.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is disappointing to see the new President defame all those who allege there are still ongoing violations as linked to the LTTE\u201d, said Sooka, \u201cthis is the sort of rhetoric and denial we\u2019d hoped would change.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":122015,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-156197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-news","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"\nITJP Enraged By President Sirisena's Insults To UN Inquiry - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/itjp-enraged-by-president-sirisenas-insults-to-un-inquiry\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ITJP Enraged By President Sirisena's Insults To UN Inquiry - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/itjp-enraged-by-president-sirisenas-insults-to-un-inquiry\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-01-23T07:57:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Yasmin-Sooka.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"275\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"183\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/itjp-enraged-by-president-sirisenas-insults-to-un-inquiry\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/itjp-enraged-by-president-sirisenas-insults-to-un-inquiry\/\",\"name\":\"ITJP Enraged By President Sirisena's Insults To UN Inquiry - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/itjp-enraged-by-president-sirisenas-insults-to-un-inquiry\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/itjp-enraged-by-president-sirisenas-insults-to-un-inquiry\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Yasmin-Sooka.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-23T07:57:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/itjp-enraged-by-president-sirisenas-insults-to-un-inquiry\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/itjp-enraged-by-president-sirisenas-insults-to-un-inquiry\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/itjp-enraged-by-president-sirisenas-insults-to-un-inquiry\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Yasmin-Sooka.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Yasmin-Sooka.jpg\",\"width\":275,\"height\":183,\"caption\":\"Yasmin Sooka\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/itjp-enraged-by-president-sirisenas-insults-to-un-inquiry\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"ITJP Enraged By President Sirisena’s Insults To UN Inquiry\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\",\"name\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"ITJP Enraged By President Sirisena's Insults To UN Inquiry - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/itjp-enraged-by-president-sirisenas-insults-to-un-inquiry\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"ITJP Enraged By President Sirisena's Insults To UN Inquiry - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[…]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/itjp-enraged-by-president-sirisenas-insults-to-un-inquiry\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2016-01-23T07:57:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":275,"height":183,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Yasmin-Sooka.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/itjp-enraged-by-president-sirisenas-insults-to-un-inquiry\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/itjp-enraged-by-president-sirisenas-insults-to-un-inquiry\/","name":"ITJP Enraged By President Sirisena's Insults To UN Inquiry - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/itjp-enraged-by-president-sirisenas-insults-to-un-inquiry\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/itjp-enraged-by-president-sirisenas-insults-to-un-inquiry\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Yasmin-Sooka.jpg","datePublished":"2016-01-23T07:57:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/itjp-enraged-by-president-sirisenas-insults-to-un-inquiry\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/itjp-enraged-by-president-sirisenas-insults-to-un-inquiry\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/itjp-enraged-by-president-sirisenas-insults-to-un-inquiry\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Yasmin-Sooka.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Yasmin-Sooka.jpg","width":275,"height":183,"caption":"Yasmin Sooka"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/itjp-enraged-by-president-sirisenas-insults-to-un-inquiry\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"ITJP Enraged By President Sirisena’s Insults To UN Inquiry"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3","name":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Yasmin-Sooka.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156197"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":156202,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156197\/revisions\/156202"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}