by International Truth & Justice Project Sri Lanka, South Africa, May 26, 2020 https://www.itjpsl.com/assets/press/English-26-May-2020-Alwis-press-release.pdf Press Release Johannesburg: International assistance to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Sri Lankan police must be urgently reviewed now that a well known alleged torturer has been put in charge. Senior Superintendant of Police Adambarage Ruwan Prasanna Jayak De… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Human Rights
ITJP: No Vetting for Sri Lanka’s New Major Generals
by International Truth & Justice Project Sri Lanka, South Africa, May 22, 2020 https://www.itjpsl.com/assets/press/English-press-release-22-May-2020.pdf Press Release Johannesburg: On the eleventh anniversary of the end of the war in Sri Lanka, the President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, intentionally promoted officers[1] to the rank of Major General who should have been vetted and screened out of any official position,… Read more »
ITJP: The President’s Inner Circle
by International Truth & Justice Project Sri Lanka, South Africa, May 5, 2020 https://itjpsl.com/reports/gotabayas-inner-circle Press Release Johannesburg: President Gotabaya Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka has appointed an alarming collection of alleged perpetrators of war crimes and bureaucrats previously accused of corruption to his new government, said the International Truth and Justice Project. The legal research organisation… Read more »
Tamils Remember Genocide of Thousands on May 18
Tamils all over the World Remember the Genocide of Thousands on May 18, 2020 by Kumar Rasingam, May 12, 2020 Marking 11 years since the Sri Lankan military onslaught that massacred tens of thousands of Tamils, we revisit the final days leading up to the 18th of May 2009 – a date remembered around the world as ‘Tamil… Read more »
The Dark Face of COVID-19 in Sri Lanka
by Thambu Kanagasabai – LLM [London] Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, May 8, 2020 The pandemic Covid-19 which originated in Wuhan province, China sometime in December 2019 made its cruel impact as a globally deadly disease in January 2020 and was declared as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. It then… Read more »
SL State Continues Mega ‘Development’ Crime in Mannaar
Amidst COVID-19 curfew by TamilNet, May 7, 2020 Hundreds of Sinhala workers from South and Indian subcontractors are roaming free in Mannaar, between Oalaith-thoduvaay and Thoadda-ve’li, where Tamil villagers are struggling to cope with their livelihood due to COVID-19 curfew. Millionaire investors from the South and the occupying SL State abetted by Asian Development Bank,… Read more »
Still Searching for Stephen Sunthararaj
by Tamil Guardian, London, May 7, 2020 On this day 11 years ago, Stephen Sunthararaj, an activist who had exposed the trafficking of Tamil children into international prostitution rings, was abducted and forcibly disappeared in Colombo by armed men in military uniforms. Sunthararaj, was the Project Manager of the Centre for Human Rights and Development… Read more »
Dharmaretnam Sivaram: ‘Appa died doing what he loved most’
By Vaishnavi Sivaram, Vaitheki Sivaram & Andrew Seralaathan Dharmaretnam, Journalists for a Democracy in Sri Lanka, April 29, 2020 This year marks the 15th anniversary of our father’s death and to this day, no one has been convicted for his murder. We are not surprised by this and neither is our family looking for justice. The Sri… Read more »
ITJP: Sri Lanka’s Militarisation of COVID-19 Response
by International Truth and Justice Project, South Africa, April 8, 2020 ITJPSL.COM ITJPSL /A_T/ GMAIL /D_O_T/ COM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: YASMIN SOOKA English ITJP_COVID-19 press release (Merged) copy PRESS RELEASE: Sri Lanka’s Militarisation of COVID-19 Response Accompanying Infographic Johanesburg: The lack of civilian oversight over Sri Lanka’s militarised COVID-19 response raises some very serious human rights… Read more »
Justice for War Victims, Covid-19 & the Presidential Pardon
to a convicted criminal by Kumarathasan Rasingam – Secretary – The Tamil Canadian Elders for Human Rights Org., April 9, 2020 President Gotabaya’s pardon of a convicted criminal to let him loose to prowl free on the streets is only a licence and encouragement for him and other similar minded criminals to embark on a… Read more »
AI: Religious Minorities Must Have Their Final Rites Respected
by Amnesty International, London, April 3, 2020 Sri Lanka’s authorities must respect the right of religious minorities to carry out the final rites of their relatives in accordance with their own traditions unless they can show that restrictions are needed to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Amnesty International said today. Two of the early COVID-19-related… Read more »
HRCSL Deeply Concerned by Presidential Pardon Granted to Ex-soldier Convicted of Murder
by Daily FT, Colombo, April 2, 2020 HRCSL writes to President saying pardon sends negative message, reinforces allegations of impunity and lack of justice for victims of violations Says SC judgment in Mirusuvil case considered landmark judgment Granting Presidential pardon to convict of such a judgment sets very negative precedent Says HRCSL would have been… Read more »
Sinhalization of the North-East: Seruwila-Verugal
by People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL), March 12, 2020 PEARL is launching the 3rd installment of its “Sinhalization of the North-East” series, this time focusing on Seruwila-Verugal. This series examines the scope and impact of the state-sponsored Sinhalization and militarization of the traditional Tamil homeland. The Trincomalee District is a historically majority… Read more »
Pres. Gotabaya’s Twisted Accountability & Justice
By: Thambu Kanagasabai – LLM {London} Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka and PRESIDENT, The Tamil Canadian Elders for Human Rights Organization. President Gotabaya Rajapaksha’s pardon and release of former Army Sergeant Ratnayake who was sentenced to death in 2015 for the brutal murder of 8 Tamil civilians including children in December… Read more »
Justice in the Time of a Pandemic
by Ambika Satkunanathan, Groundviews, Colombo, March 29, 2020 ‘What physicians say about consumptive illness is applicable here: that at the beginning, such an illness is easy to cure but difficult to diagnose; but as time passes, not having been recognised or treated at the outset, it becomes easy to diagnose but difficult to cure.’ The… Read more »
Arbitrary Release of a Convicted Military Officer Calls for a Rethink
On international strategies on Sri Lanka by Global Tamil Forum, March 28, 2020 PRESS STATEMENT 28 March 2020, London Arbitrary release of a convicted military officer calls for a rethink on international strategies on Sri Lanka The Global Tamil Forum (GTF) strongly condemns Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa’s decision to pardon and release Sunil Ratnayake, an… Read more »
Pardoning of Convicted Soldier Further Proof of Necessity for Internationalized Justice
by People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL), March 27, 2020 (Washington D.C., March 27, 2020) On 26 March 2020, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa pardoned former Sri Lankan army Staff Sergeant Sunil Rathnayake, who was convicted in 2015 of participating in the December 2000 massacre of eight Tamil civilians, including a five-year old… Read more »
TGTE: Sri Lanka Pardons a Soldier Sentenced to Death for Killing Tamil Civilians
by Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam, New York, March 27, 2020 Sri Lanka is the first country to take advantage of Coronavirus crisis to persecute a community.” — Visivanathan Rudrakumaran NEW YORK, USA, March 27, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ — While the World Reels from the Coronavirus, Sri Lankan President Instead Focuses on Perpetuating Immunity for Int’l… Read more »
OHCHR Press Briefing Note on Sri Lanka
Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: Rupert Colville Location: Geneva Date: 27 March 2020 Subject: Sri Lanka We are troubled by reports that the convicted perpetrator of the Mirusuvil massacre, in Sri Lanka, has received a Presidential Pardon and was released from jail this week. Former Army sergeant Sunil Ratnayake was sentenced in 2015… Read more »
Sri Lankan Leader Frees Soldier Convicted in Civilian Deaths
by Associated Press in The New York Times, March 26, 2020 COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s president on Thursday freed a soldier who was sentenced to death for killing eight civilians during the country’s civil war. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s office said he pardoned Sunil Ratnayake and ordered the justice ministry to release him. Ratnayake… Read more »