Articles
The Silence of Sri Lanka
[New York Times] In April 2009, we travelled together as foreign ministers to Sri Lanka, as 25 years of fighting between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers neared its end. The remaining fighters were trapped in the northern most part of the country — along with large numbers of civilians. U.N. estimates put…
Read MoreWar crimes: The world has seen the evidence. Now we must act
[Guardian UK] The broadcast last week of Channel 4’s Sri Lanka‘s Killing Fields documentary was a defining moment not just for the media, but for those who investigate war crimes. Chronicling the final bloody weeks in 2009 of the country’s civil war which claimed the lives of at least 40,000 Tamil civilians, it captured in sometimes grainy,…
Read MoreSri Lanka president receives US court summons
[BBC] The summons is linked to three civil cases filed under the Hague Convention by relatives of Tamil victims of alleged extra-judicial killings. The alleged killings took place during the Sri Lankan civil war. The petitioners are claiming financial damages under the US Torture Victims Protection Act. [Full Story]
Read MoreSri Lanka president rejects US court summons
[AFP] Sri Lanka’s president Mahinda Rajapakse has cited constitutional immunity and refused to go before a US court where he is being sued for $30 million over the killing of a Tamil man, an official said Sunday. A US-based Tamil lobby had filed the case claiming damages from him as commander-in-chief of the Sri Lankan…
Read MoreSri Lanka Tamil MPs ‘beaten up by troops’
[AFP] Sri Lanka’s main minority Tamil political group on Friday accused army troops of assaulting its lawmakers and breaking up a party meeting on the northern peninsula of Jaffna. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) said troops stormed their venue on Thursday evening and attacked members of parliament and party supporters who were discussing local elections…
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