{"id":208933,"date":"2020-03-28T15:45:36","date_gmt":"2020-03-28T10:15:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=208933"},"modified":"2020-03-28T15:45:36","modified_gmt":"2020-03-28T10:15:36","slug":"justice-undone-for-massacre-victims-presidential-pardon-shows-rajapaksas-indifference-to-army-atrocities-hrw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/justice-undone-for-massacre-victims-presidential-pardon-shows-rajapaksas-indifference-to-army-atrocities-hrw\/","title":{"rendered":"Justice Undone For Massacre Victims – Presidential Pardon Shows Rajapaksa\u2019s Indifference To Army Atrocities: HRW"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sri Lankan<\/a>\u00a0President Gotabaya Rajapaksa\u2019s pardon<\/span><\/a> of a soldier convicted of massacring eight civilians, including children, shows the administration\u2019s disregard for justice for the worst abuses, Human Rights Watch said today. The conviction of former Sgt. Sunil Ratnayake<\/span><\/a> had been one of the very few cases of security force personnel being criminally punished for civil war-era atrocities, despite the huge number of credible and extremely serious allegations.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Ratnayake, who was pardoned on March 26, 2020, was found guilty in 2015 of\u00a0killing eight civilians<\/a>, including a 5-year-old, at Mirusuvil, in northern Sri Lanka, in 2000. The bodies of the victims showed signs of torture. The conviction had been\u00a0upheld by Sri Lanka\u2019s court of appeal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Gotabaya Rajapaksa government couldn\u2019t make it any plainer to victims and their families that it opposes any form of justice for even the worst atrocities,\u201d said\u00a0Meenakshi Ganguly<\/a>, South Asia director. \u201cConcerned governments need to take the government\u2019s own message on board and respond appropriately to uphold basic human rights protections and prohibitions on war crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both government forces and the successionist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were implicated in numerous abuses during the conflict, which ended with the LTTE\u2019s defeat in 2009. Gotabaya Rajapaksa was defence secretary during the final stages of the civil war, when the\u00a0United Nations has found<\/a>\u00a0that tens of thousands of civilians were killed, hospitals were shelled, and prisoners were summarily executed. He came to office as president in 2019,\u00a0promising to release \u201cwar heroes\u201d<\/a>\u00a0who had been imprisoned on \u201cfalse\u201d charges.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Presidential pardon is an affront to victims and yet another example of the failure of Sri Lanka to fulfil its international human rights obligations to provide meaningful accountability for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other gross violations of human rights,\u201d\u00a0noted a statement from UN High Commissioner for Human Rights<\/a>. \u201cPardoning one of the sole convicted perpetrators of atrocities committed during the Sri Lankan conflict further undermines the limited progress the country has made towards ending impunity for mass human rights abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since taking office, President Rajapaksa appointed army chief Shavendra Silva, who faces credible\u00a0allegations of war crimes<\/a>, as his\u00a0chief of defence staff<\/a>. In February, Silva was\u00a0banned from entering the United States<\/a>\u00a0due to the allegations against him. Rajapaksa has also appointed retired general Kamal Gunaratne, who is implicated in alleged war crimes committed by the army\u2019s 53 Division, which he commanded, as defence secretary. Gunaratne is currently\u00a0leading the government\u2019s task force<\/a>\u00a0to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

In February, the Sri Lankan government\u00a0withdrew from its commitments<\/a>\u00a0under a\u00a0UN Human Rights Council resolution<\/a>\u00a0that included provisions for justice for abuses committed by both sides during the civil war. That resolution, which was passed by consensus in 2015 and\u00a0reaffirmed as recently as 2019<\/a>, represented the commitment of UN member states and their strategy for upholding international human rights and humanitarian law for civil war-era violations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Rajapaksa government has appointed alleged perpetrators of war crimes to high office while pardoning one of the few soldiers convicted for a terrible offense,\u201d Ganguly said. \u201cIt should be clear that to deliver justice for victims and to deter future atrocities, an international justice mechanism is needed in Sri Lanka.\u201d (HRW)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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