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Sri Lanka not answerable to war crimes claims

26 Oct 2011 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa remains untouchable in Australia over local allegations he committed war crimes during his country's civil war, which ended in 2009.

Late yesterday the Australian Attorney-General Robert McClelland rejected a request to prosecute Mr. Rajapaksa over claims by an Australian citizen that he had seen firsthand the atrocities committed by Mr. Rajapaksa's army.

Australian civil engineer, Arunachalam Jegapheeswaran, said he had been working as an aid worker in his former home nation of Sri Lanka from 2007 to 2009 when he saw the bombing of civilian populations and clearly-marked Red Cross field hospitals.

On Monday Mr Jegapheeswaran filed an indictment in a Victorian court against Mr. Rajapaksa, declaring he was seeking justice for thousands who perished in aerial bombardments and ground attacks on shelters, schools, hospitals, orphanages and community centres.

Mr Rajapaksa recently arrived in Perth for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting but Mr. Jegapheeswaran denied his motive was to embarrass the president during CHOGM.

''People are still suffering because of what he did and I think the world should know,'' Mr. Jegapheeswaran said on Monday.

''I've seen all of these things. I can't bear that the person who is responsible for all of this - who is the commander-in-chief - is coming to my country and getting off scot-free.''

The indictment filed under the Australian criminal code with the Melbourne Magistrates Court was set for hearing on November 29.

But for the case to proceed against Mr. Rajapaksa it required the consent of Mr McClelland, who received the request through his office yesterday afternoon.

Mr. McClelland's office also confirmed that a similar request was made to Australian Federal Police to investigate the matter, which it was evaluating.

However later that night, a spokesman for the Attorney-General said the request had been refused "as continuation of the proceedings would be in breach of domestic law and Australia's obligations under international law".

"Australia has obligations under international law including the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations which extends immunity to visiting Heads of State," he said.

"The Foreign States Immunity Act 1985 extends immunities of heads of diplomatic missions applying under the Diplomatic Privileges and Immunities Act 1967 to Heads of States.

"Those immunities include personal inviolability including from any form of arrest or detention and immunity from the criminal jurisdiction of the receiving state.

"This derives from Australia's obligations under international law and the principles of state immunity."

Lawyer Lucien Richter, whose firm represents Mr. Jegapheeswaran, said they were extremely disappointed by the decision.

"It is an issue we had hoped to get more careful consideration of but it seems there has been no effort to mount an investigation into these atrocities," he said.

He said it appeared that diplomatic expediency was put ahead of human rights and there was little more they could do, with the exception of a High Court case.

Mr Jegapheeswaran's lawyer Robert Stary yesterday told ABC's WA radio that he expected Mr McClelland to treat his client as a bona fide witness.

"We expect that both the Australian Federal Police and Commonwealth Attorney General must take this complaint seriously and must conduct enquiries in accordance with the law," Mr. Stary said.

"We're not asking that any person be arrested or remanded in custody, and all those things are possible. We're simply saying that while he's here and whilst this complaint is a bona fide complaint and it must be one before it can be issued by the courts.

"Whilst he's here he should be spoken to or interrogated in a way that any other suspect in a serious crime might be interrogated."

Mr Rajapaksa, who strenuously denies any wrongdoing, has already been cited in a separate brief of evidence compiled by the International Commission of Jurists' Australian section and handed to the AFP.

The brief recommends that he be investigated for alleged war crimes, along with Sri Lanka's high commissioner to Australia, Thisara Samarasinghe, and other military and political figures.

Mr Samarasinghe has also denied committing war crimes and cast himself as a uniter of the Sinhalese and Tamil communities in Australia.

Mr Stary said there was plenty of evidence against those accused.

"The Canadian Prime Minister, a conservative prime minister, has said that he will not visit CHOGM in Sri Lanka in 2013 unless the human rights records are addressed," he said.

"John Dowd who is the former Liberal Party Attorney General and leader of New South Wales of the International Commission of Jurists had said there must be an inquiry and it must start now.

"So these are not radical fringe claims these are mainstream conservative organisations that say a great atrocity has been committed in Sri Lanka and it requires investigation.

"Australia can play an important part; it can play a leadership role in that process."

Prime Minister Julia Gillard refused to be drawn on the issue indicating it was a matter for the Attorney General. (Source:Sydney Morning Herald)

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Sri Lanka not answerable to war crimes claims

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