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Sri Lanka's Tamil torture victims reiterate call for international judges

Tamil victims of torture at the hands of the Sri Lankan government reiterated calls for international judges and investigators in an accountability mechanism examining human rights violations, reports Deutsche Welle.

The German broadcaster spoke to two tortured Tamils, who described in graphic detail the torture and sexual violence they experienced when held by Sri Lankan authorities in the final months of the armed conflict and beyond.

Freedom From Torture's joint head of psychiatric services, William Hopkins, told Deutsche Welle that the victims "don't believe this (an inquiry) can be done by domestic judges".

"They would like hybrid courts, where international judges and investigators come along with domestic authorities and look into these human rights violations," he said.

Stating that those victims who fled to the UK are not in an "asylum limbo", he also added "they have all the stress and secondary psychological problems from waiting”.

“It can be very distressing because they always fear that they'll be sent back and tortured again," he said.

See our earlier feature: Tamil torture survivors call for internationalised justice process (03 Feb 2016)

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