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Army fails to show up in court over case of surrendering Tamils

A Sri Lankan army commander has failed to show up in court this week, where he was ordered to submit a list of surrendered Tamils that his unit had allegedly kept from the final stages of the armed conflict in 2009.

The General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 58th Division of the Sri Lanka Army, Major General Chanakya Gunawardena, was ordered by the Mullaitivu magistrate to submit a list of all those that had surrendered, after an army brigadier testified the military had kept a list earlier this year. Amongst those to have surrendered is the husband of Northern Provincial Council member Ananthy Sasitharan, a political leader in the LTTE.

After failing to submit a list last month, the commander failed to show in court at all this week. The commander’s advocate was not present either.

The Mullaitivu magistrate adjourned the case to July 14th and warned that if the commander fails to be present before the court again, an arrest warrant would be issued.

See our earlier posts:

Army fails to submit list of missing people (22 Apr 2016)

Sri Lankan army has a list of surrendering Tamils – Brigadier (18 Feb 2016) 

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