Will not make ‘war heroes’ into war crimes suspects: Sri Lanka president

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has categorically stated that he will not make any “war hero” a suspect in cases of alleged war crimes.

Speaking at the opening of the newly constructed building at the Defense Services School in Kurunegala on Wednesday, the President said that it is the responsibility and duty of the government to protect war heroes who fought for the motherland.

He assured that that he would always fulfil his responsibility as the President and Defense Minister.

Sirisena said that there is “unprecedented goodwill” for Sri Lanka in the international community today, but many wonder what benefit Sri Lanka would derive from this.

“We are utilising that goodwill and friendship for the protection of the honour and respect of our war heroes,” the President said.

He added that powerful world leaders have assured him that they would stand by Sri Lanka’s independence and democracy and issues pertaining to the members of armed forces.

The president said that he would always take the fullest responsibility on behalf of any problem faced by the officers, staff members and war heroes who fought against the LTTE.

The President however made it clear that he cannot protect those armed forces personnel who are found guilty of acts that are not connected to national security and those who are guilty of killing media persons or sportsmen.

The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in its resolutions (including those of September 2015 and March 2017) have called for the prosecution of military men and also officers who had commanded them, against whom there are charges of rights violations and war crimes.

Recently, the Australian High Commission had refused to give a visa to Maj Gen Chagi Gallage because he commanded a unit which took part in the final part of the war, when armed forces allegedly committed war crimes including the targeted killing of civilians.

The issue of hauling up military personnel before any court, especially one with foreign judges (as demanded by the Tamil minority and the UNHRC) is a very sensitive one in Sri Lanka, with far reaching political implications.

While the Tamils, who consider themselves the victims of war, want the predominantly Sinhalese armed forces to be punished, the Sinhalese majority consider themselves the victims of Tamil terrorism and wishes to protect the army which liberated them from the terrorists.

Sinhalese political leaders of every hue consider it to be political suicide to haul war heroes before the courts. Tamil leaders consider it to be equally suicidal to say “let bygones be bygones.”

The National Unity government led by President Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has a mixed approach to the issue.

On the one hand they want to placate the West which helped them come to power replacing the anti-West Mahinda Rajapaksa. The government also wants the support of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) which is described as the most loyal opposition ever in Sri Lankan history.

Therefore, the government co-sponsored two UNHRC resolutions saying that the armed forced might have committed war crimes and other rights violations and that they should be tried in war crimes courts with foreign judges and prosecutors.

On the other hand, the government has to hold its core political constituency, namely, the Sinhalese majority. Therefore, while agreeing to set up war crimes courts, it also says that these courts need not have foreign judges and prosecutors. There could be foreign experts as advisors and observers but not foreign judges handing out sentences.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has said that Sri Lankan law does not provide for foreign judges and Sri Lanka had decided not to sign the Rome Statute to recognize the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court over its territory.

The Tamils say that the Sri Lankan judiciary is not independent and ethnically neutral. They point to some high profile cases in which Sinhalese judges had been amenable to soldiers’ pleas to transfer their case to Sinhalese areas. In the case of the assassination of TNA MP, N Raviraj, an all-Sinhalese jury had found all the Sinhalese accused “not guilty”.

But the Sinhalese deny ethnic bias, though they may say that the judiciary could be corrupt and politically biased. The government’s view is mid-way between these two positions. It says that the judiciary has its flaws and attempts are being made to correct the flaws. But it does not accept the charge that the judiciary is ethnically biased. And to see that the proceedings in locally staffed war crimes courts are fair and up to international standards, government is prepared to accept foreign observers and experts.