Impunity Watch Reporter, AsiaKOTTE, Sri Lanka- Sri Lanka officials have been unable to dismiss a shocking mobile phone video from last January showing Sri Lankan soldiers executing naked and bound captives. The government has claimed the video is fake, without providing any evidence that the scene was staged or the footage tampered with.
Phillip Alston, the top United Nations envoy responsible for investigating extralegal executions worldwide has added his voice to those who believe the tape is real. After commissioning experts in forensic pathology, video analysis, and firearms to review the tape, Mr. Alston said ” You cannot fake the precise sort of reaction which the human body makes when shot at close range by such a weapon.”
Sri Lanka’s public relations team denounced the “bias” of the UN expert, suggesting that he was on a “personal crusade” to force a war crimes investigation over the allegations. The Sri Lankan authorities possess a list of “biased” organizations that includes anyone who reported critically on the final months of the fighting against Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, in which over 7,000 civilians died. Some of these biased organizations include Human Rights Watch, other international human rights and humanitarian groups, the European Union, the BBC and many other media outlets. The situation for Sri Lankan human rights journalists has been grave, where many have fled the country fearing for their lives.
However the Sri Lankan spin is beginning to fray. General Sareth Fonseka, who was in charge of last year’s offensive said that the orders to execute surrendering Tamil Tiger leaders in the final days of the war had come directly from the defense secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaska, the brother of President Mahinda Rajapaska. He later claimed to have misspoken.
The execution captured in the video was an all-too-common occurrence during the 26-year civil war. Government forces and the Tamil Tigers have been responsible for summary executions and targeted killings for which no one has been punished.
The government’s record of investigating allegations of war crimes by either government forces or the Tamil Tigers has been minimal. Human Rights Watch and others have reported incidents of indiscriminate shelling of civilians, and the blocking of humanitarian assistance to the trapped population in the war zone. One reason the government locked nearly 300,000 civilians from fleeing the fighting in closed camps was to keep their stories from coming out.
Although the Sri Lankan government still believe that denial is the best policy, their loss in credibility is rising. The European Union is considering ending textile trade benefits to Sri Lanka over its human rights record, while the International Monetary Fund took the step of delaying an emergency loan for months.
For more information, please see:
Guardian.co.uk- Uncovering Sri Lanka’s War Crimes– 21 January 2010
BBC News- Sri Lanka Rejects UN Execution Video Claims– 8 January 2010
The Times of India- Lanka Execution Video Authentic, Says UN– 8 January 2010
