Author: TELO Admin

World-leading expert in international rights and humanitarian law Wayne Jordash QC is calling on the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the UK to investigate crimes perpetrated against Sri Lankan Tamils.

“It’s crystal clear that the [Sri Lankan] government has been involved in a policy of persecuting the Tamils,” he told the Tamil Guardian in an interview this week. “The evidence is quite overwhelming that these crimes are occurring, and it is quite crystal clear from the 200 victims that we represent, that there are thousands, if not tens of thousands more.”

Wayne is the co-founder and managing partner of Global Rights Compliance (GLC) which, earlier this week, filed a submission under Article 15 of the Rome Statute, requesting the ICC Prosecutor to exercise territorial jurisdiction to initiate investigations into crimes committed in Sri Lanka.

The Communication to the international tribunal names several senior Sri Lankan officials, including President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, defence secretary Kamal Gunaratne, former army commander Jagath Jayasuriya and others as individuals “responsible for crimes against humanity of deportation (through underlying acts of abductions, unlawful detention and torture), deprivation of right to return and persecution”.

To see the full interview, click the link below.

The submission was made ahead of next week’s UN Climate Change Conference 2021 in Glasgow and was also forwarded to the UK Metropolitan Police for action against President Rajapaksa and members of the Sri Lankan delegation attending the Conference.

Wayne has also worked as a legal representative to 400 Rohingya women, who are victims of crimes committed in Myanmar and Bangladesh. In 2018, he filed a submission to the ICC, on behalf of the victims, requesting the ICC pre-trial chamber to provide clarification of the ICC’s jurisdiction over the crimes of deportation, persecution, apartheid and genocide committed against the Rohingyas.

Representing 400 women in Myanmar “was an inspiration for this”. “There are not many places where you can go and find accountability for them [Rohingya]and so, the ICC opened up a very narrow possibility,” he said. “When I look at the situation of the Sri Lankan Tamils and the way in which they are treated by the [Sri Lankan] government and the way in which they leave the country, having been forced out through persecution and torture, it struck me looking at those facts, looking at those crimes and looking at the very narrow possibilities for justice for the Sri Lankan Tamils that we should try”.

When questioned on what he believed are the prospects of success of the ICC permitting an investigation into the crimes committed in Sri Lanka, Wayne answered that “this is the strongest communication I have submitted to the ICC”. “There is overwhelming evidence of the range of acts of abduction, unlawful detention, torture, deportation, deprivation of the right to return, persecution in the UK, persecution where the Tamils end up in another country seeking refugee status. There is no doubt that these crimes occurred, there is no doubt that they are continuing to occur. The question will be whether these men we allege are responsible, …, are responsible and to what extent.” “I would say the evidence against them is really looking pretty strong,” he added.

Biggest Challenge

Wayne explained the biggest challenge to the ICC and UK investigation being approved is twofold. Firstly, the UK will be “reluctant” to arrest one of the alleged perpetrators, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, due to his presidency.“On the basis of this evidence, …the challenge will not be the evidence. The challenge will be whether we can get hold of the President.”

On a positive note, he then said that Gotabaya Rajapaksa “won’t be president forever”. “If we can encourage the UK to fulfil its obligations which is to investigate these types of crimes, whether they occur on the UK soil or not and when we can encourage the ICC to investigate crimes which occur in the Rome Statute signatory states, like the UK, then we can inch forward.”

As the second challenge, Wayne mentioned that ICC processes are “very slow”. They “take a very long time and tend to, because of a lack of resources, take even longer,” he said. “Justice is a long game.”

If the request to investigate is successful, what can the victims expect to happen next?

The ICC Prosecutor would open up a full investigation which would include sending investigators to Sri Lanka and/or to the UK to start the investigation. “That’s what happens if the prosecutor is satisfied that there is a reasonable basis for believing that these crimes, crimes of deportation, persecution and deprivation of the right to return, have been committed,” said Wayne.

“On the basis of the communication we filed, there is plenty of evidence. In my view, the prosecutor could move quite swiftly or should be able to move quite swiftly to a full investigation.”

President’s Counsel Ali Sabry, the only Muslim among the Cabinet ministers, is likely to quit the justice portfolio over the recent appointment of Ven. Galagodaatte Gnanasara Thera as the head of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) to make recommendations in respect of ‘One Country, One Law’ concept.

Well-informed sources say Sabry, who campaigned alongside civil society group ‘Viyathmaga’, at the 2019 presidential election, is quite disappointed at the unexpected development.

Sabry, who appeared for Gotabaya Rajapaksa in several high-profile cases, including the controversial acquisition of MiG-27 fighters, entered Parliament on the SLPP National List. Sabry is expected to make an announcement after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s return to the country from the UK.

Premier Mahinda Rajapaksa has discussed the issue with the Justice Minister and advised the latter against taking a hasty decision. The Justice Ministry was not consulted as regards Ven. Gnanasara Thera’s appointment as the head of the PTF, sources say.

The Ven. Thera is the General Secretary of the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS).

Justice Ministry sources said the announcement of Gnanasara Thera’s appointment had surprised them. “Initially, we thought it was a social media prank,” they said.

The PTF has been authorised to examine the work undertaken by the Justice Ministry.

SLMC leader and one-time Justice Minister Rauff Hakeem has questioned the rationale behind accommodating Gnanasara Thera, who received a presidential pardon during Maithripala Sirisena’s tenure while serving a jail term for contempt of court, in the PTF. The SLMC is a constituent of the Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB), the main Opposition party in Parliament.

Lawmaker Hakeem has asked whether the new move was aimed at strengthening the hands of those trying to cause further mayhem amidst pressure on the government to implement the recommendations of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) into the 2019 Easter Sunday carnage.

The former minister said that such short-sighted strategies would only tarnish Sri Lanka’s image at a time the global Muslim community as well as other countries interested in post-war reconciliation process here were closely following the situation here.

Controversy has erupted over Ven. Gnanasara’s appointment as PTF head amidst speculation the monk may receive the national List slot of the Ape Jana Bala Pakshaya (AJBP) at the expense of Ven. Athureliye Rathana Thera.

The AJBP on 16 Oct, informed the Secretary General of Parliament of its decision to expel Ven. Rathana from the Parliament. Election Commission Chairman Attorney-at-Law Nimal Punchihewa told The Island that Ven. Rathana would automatically lose his seat within one month unless the monk moved court against the party’s decision.

Pointing out that Tamils and Christians hadn’t been represented in the PTF, MP Hakeem said that Gnanasara Thera’s leadership to such a vital outfit wouldn’t be acceptable under any circumstances.

Yuthukama Chief Gevindu Cumaratunga, too, raised the issue at hand with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at a recent meeting at Temple Trees.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s former Ambassador in Myanmar Prof. Nalin de Silva, in a statement, appreciated the appointment given to Ven. Gnanasara. Saying that he didn’t accept Ven. Gnanasara Thera’s views on some issues and the monk’s connections with certain persons, Prof Silva emphasised he was the most qualified to serve in that capacity.

Prof. de Silva said that the relevant the PTF should be headed by a Buddhist monk.

“The People’s Tribunal on the Murder of Journalists” located in The Hague, the Netherlands, will launch its Tribunal today (2) to indict the Government of Sri Lanka for the assassination of slain Editor Lasantha Wickrematunge and its prolonged failure to bring his murderers to justice.

The International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists falls today, 2 November.

In addition to the murder of Wickrematunge, the Tribunal launched by the Free Press Unlimited, Reporters Without Borders, and Committee to Protect Journalists organisations will inquire into the murders of two other journalists, namely Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was assassinated at the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Turkey, and Maltese journalist Daphne Anne Caruana Galizia, who was assassinated in Malta. Khashoggi’s girlfriend and Galizia’s son are also scheduled to testify.

The Lasantha Wickrematunge murder case will be heard first, at which his daughter, Ahimsa Wickrematunge, who has been fighting to bring her father’s killers to justice, is also expected to testify. In a Tweet, she said that she was honoured to support the Tribunal.

The Hague is where the International Criminal Court is also located. The project, titled “A Safer World for the Truth”, is a collaboration between Free Press Unlimited, a press freedom organisation based in the Netherlands, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and Reporters Without Borders.

According to the People’s Tribunal on the Murder of Journalists, since 1992, more than 1,400 journalists have been killed, and in eight out of 10 cases where a journalist is murdered, the killers go free.

Wickrematunge was killed on 8 January 2009.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has agreed to transport Indian liquid Nano-Nitrogen fertiliser recommended for use in agriculture, Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage said.

He said that the decision to import liquid Nano-Nitrogen fertiliser by air was taken due to delays in shipping.

Accordingly six Indian planes will arrive in Sri Lanka carrying Nano-Nitrogen fertiliser today, the minister said at an event at Gannoruwa, Kandy.