The International Truth and Justice Project says it filed a criminal complaint requesting the immediate arrest of Gotabaya Rajapaksa for his role as the secretary of defence during Sri Lanka’s civil war
A rights group gathering evidence on Sri Lanka’s alleged rights abuses said it filed a criminal complaint with Singapore’s attorney-general, seeking to arrest an ex-Sri Lankan president for his role in war crimes alleged to have been committed during the island nation’s civil war that ended more than a decade ago.
The group said “the 63-page complaint argues that Rajapaksa committed grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions during the civil war in 2009 when he was secretary of defence and that these are crimes subject to domestic prosecution in Singapore under universal jurisdiction.” “The economic meltdown has seen the government collapse but the crisis in Sri Lanka is really linked to structural impunity for serious international crimes going back three decades or more,” said the ITJP’s executive director, Yasmin Sooka.
Sri Lankans have taken to the streets for months to demand their top leaders step down to take responsibility for the economic chaos that has left the nation’s 22 million people struggling with shortages of essentials, including medicine, fuel and food. The protesters have focused on Rajapaksa’s family,
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