The Commander of Sri Lanka’s Army Vikum Liyanage has filed legal action against an individual under the newly legislated  Online Safety Act, after a social media post accused him of war crimes and corruption.

Liyanage filed a case at Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court against the individual, as well as against Google and YouTube, for distributing a video which he claimed is ‘defamatory’ and ‘insulting.’

The individual named in the court papers is Thushara Saliya Ranawaka, a Sri Lankan who is living overseas and manages the YouTube page “Lanka UNews Official”.

Hours after the case was filed, the same YouTube shared another video calling Liynanage “a fool for filing a case against a search engine" and claimed it would reveal more evidence of "Liynage’s acts of corruption, fraud, and war crimes.”

“Can you tell us how you managed to construct three massive homes in three different locations in Sri Lanka on a salary of Rs.192,000?” the narrator in the videos questioned. “We have sufficient evidence to prove that you stole money from the army, made money out of deals, and used the resources of the military for personal gain.”

The narrator also claims that the wife of the army commander is usually given a female officer from the military for her protection however in the instance of the Liyanage’s wife, she has been provided a high-ranking officer from the Commando Regiment despite not facing any personal threat. 

The channel has levelled various allegations of fraud against Liyanage threatening to expose him on their social media feeds.

Alongside corruption, Liyanage played a leading role in the Tamil genocide, commanding units have been implicated in numerous atrocities in Vishwamadu, Puthukkudiyiruppu and Puttumattalan during the armed conflict.

These locations are referenced in detail as places where alleged war crimes and grave human rights violations occurred based on the United Nations Report of the OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL).

The Sri Lankan army describes him as a “battle-hardened warrior” who has “held a number of significant command, staff and instructional appointments”.

As well as being Second in Command of the 14th Gajaba Regiment, Liyanage was Intelligence Officer of 21 and 55 Infantry Divisions, Commanding Officer of the 8th Gajaba Regiment, Brigade Commander (Overlooking) of 225 and 553 Infantry Brigades, Brigade Commander of 215, 542, 224, 221 and 623 Infantry Brigades, Director General of Psychological Operations and more.

Many of the above units are accused of committing war crimes. See more here.