Rights group seeks arrest of former Sri Lanka president Rajapaksa in Singapore
A rights group documenting alleged abuses in Sri Lanka has filed a felony criticism with Singapore’s legal professional basic, searching for the arrest of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa for his function within the South Asian nation’s decades-long civil battle.
The International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) mentioned Rajapaksa dedicated grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions in the course of the civil battle in 2009 when he was nation’s defence chief, in line with a replica of the criticism seen by Reuters.
The South Africa-based ITJP argued that based mostly on common jurisdiction the alleged abuses had been topic to prosecution in Singapore, the place he fled after months of unrest over his nation’s financial disaster.
Rajapaksa submitted his resignation in Singapore, a day after fleeing on July 13. Anti-government protesters had stormed the workplaces and official residences of the president and the prime minister.
“The criminal complaint that has been filed is (based on) verifiable information on both the crimes that have been committed, but also on evidence really linking the individual in question, who is now in Singapore,” Alexandra Lily Kather, one of many legal professionals that drafted the criticism, advised Reuters by phone from Berlin.
“Singapore really has a unique opportunity with this complaint, with its own law and with its own policy, to speak truth to power.”
Rajapaksa couldn’t be reached for remark by Sri Lanka’s High Commission in Singapore. He has beforehand strenuously denied allegations he was liable for rights abuses in the course of the battle.
In response to questions from Reuters, a spokesperson for the Attorney-General’s Chambers mentioned it had acquired a letter from the ITJP on July 23.
“We are not able to comment further on this matter,” the spokesperson mentioned.
The nation’s overseas ministry has mentioned Rajapaksa entered the Southeast Asian city-state on a non-public go to and had not sought or been granted asylum.
Shubhankar Dam, a professor on the University of Portsmouth School of Law in Britain, who has taught in Singapore, mentioned whereas its courts had been in a position to strive alleged battle crimes, genocide, and torture, it has repeatedly said that such jurisdiction ought to solely be invoked as a final resort.
“While neutrality is not officially enshrined in Singapore’s foreign policy, it has long cultivated a form of even-handedness,” Dam mentioned.
“Any decision to prosecute a former foreign head of state has to be balanced against its foreign policy objectives.”
Sri Lanka ended a 25-year civil battle between separatist insurgents from the ethnic Tamil minority and authorities forces in 2009. Rights teams accused either side of abuses in the course of the battle.
The ITJP assisted in two civil lawsuits in opposition to Rajapaksa, proceedings for one in every of which had been served in a California car parking zone in 2019. Rajapaksa was a U.S. citizen on the time.
Both circumstances had been withdrawn after Rajapaksa was granted diplomatic immunity upon turning into president later that yr.