Sri Lanka’s former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has lashed out at a United Nations report that examined mass atrocities committed during his time in office, stating Sri Lankan troops “do not need to be preached” on human rights.
Colombo Gazette reported Mr Rajapaksa as rejecting the findings of the OISL report, which stated tens of thousands of Tamil civilians were killed during the final stages of the island’s armed conflict in 2009. The report alleged that Sri Lankan troops, over whom Mr Rajapaksa reportedly bore command responsibility, knowingly shelled hospitals, committed torture and sexual abuse and withheld humanitarian assistance from reaching the Tamil population.
Mr Rajapaksa questioned the credibility of the report and said “all the good that the military did was now being disregarded”.
The former defence secretary stands accused of bearing command responsibility for many of the crimes that were documented in the OISL report, and of giving direct orders for the execution of those who surrendered to the Sri Lankan military as well as justifying the targeting of hospitals.
See more: Sri Lanka’s Greatest War Criminal (Gotabaya) is a US Citizen: It’s Time to Hold Him Accountable (21 May 2014)
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