A former Sri Lankan Army general has given an affidavit in New York alleging that the extrajudicial killing of civilians, surrendering cadres and dissident journalists were all organised by the Sri Lankan Government.
The allegations were from a former general, who US news organisation Truthout as someone who was “extremely well-placed to comment on military activity” and “had high-level security clearance and access to the flow of orders during the final days of the conflict”.
It is also reported that US State Department officials have met with the former general and have gathered “a rich collection of testimonies”, regarding the events in the final months of the war in 2009.
See the report from Truthout here.
News of the affidavit sparked an angry response from Sri Lankan Defence Secretary and brother to the President, Gothbaya Rajapkse, who said,
"Those directly involved in the campaign are still in service. They’ll never betray the country for personal benefit.”
He went on to claim that the US Embassy in Colombo had attempted to bribe Sri Lankan Army Maj. Gen. Prasad Samarasinghe in order to make allegations of war crimes against the Sri lankan government. The Defence Secretary then proceeded to say that the Truthout website also carried allegations of US war crimes in Afghanistan.
However, Gothbaya did concede that some officers from the Sri Lankan Army had been removed on disciplinary grounds but insisted that they were not involved in the final campaign, and that all possible extra judicial killings had personal responsibility for them.
See our earlier posts:
Killing spree after Gotabaya’s orders: Army eyewitness accounts (27 July 2011)
Army chief details murders of Nadesan, Puleedevan (16 Dec 2009)
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