The Sri Lankan army’s new chief of staff risks arrests “every time he travels abroad” warned the International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP), in a press release that called for him to be indicted for crimes against humanity.
Major General Shavendra Silva, who oversaw the Sri Lankan army’s 58 Division in 2009 and the killing of tens of thousands of Tamils, sparked outrage after he was appointed as the military’s new chief of staff.
“Sri Lanka now has a chief of army staff who risks arrest every time he travels abroad, if any country is foolish enough to give him a visa” said the executive director of the ITJP, Yasmin Sooka. “We have prepared a substantial dossier on Major General Silva which we shall be releasing shortly; we believe there is more than enough evidence to charge him for international crimes should the opportunity arise. This is arguably the most wanted man in Sri Lanka – a decade on, tragically, he is being promoted instead of standing trial”
“This is an incredible affront to the victims of that war – and jeopardises any reconciliation attempt in Sri Lanka,” Sooka added. “We cannot imagine what the President is thinking in promoting a man who brings the whole country into disrepute and is a close ally of the former secretary of defence, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, serving in the same regiment together.”
“The Attorney General of Sri Lanka should seriously consider indicting him for war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
See the full press release here.
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