The Australian Tamil Congress (ATC) have condemned the presidential pardon of Sergeant Sunil Rathnayake, insisting the “pardon of convicted murderer of Tamils proves justice only possible through international criminal tribunal.”

Rathnayake, was sentenced to death for killing eight Tamil Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in Mirusuvil, Jaffna on December 2000, after being convicted in June 2015 and had his sentence upheld in April 2019 at Sri Lanka’s supreme court.

A Tamil journalist in Kilinochchi was attacked by a group of unknown persons at his office yesterday, even as Sri Lanka’s security forces patrolled the streets and enforced a curfew in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak.

Nadarasalingam Thusanth was at his office when a group of unknown persons burst in and began to attack him with swords.

Civil society organisations from across the island have condemned the Sri Lankan president’s pardon of a soldier who was convicted for massacring Tamils, stating that “power has been abused and justice has been forsaken”.

The power to pardon as used in Sri Lanka is just another way the State arbitrarily discriminates against Tamils, a Jaffna-based think-tank has said. In a statement condemning the release of a Sri Lankan soldier Sunil Ratnayake, convicted of massacring Tamils, the Adayaalam Centre for Policy Research said the route to justice must be an international process.

A cross-party group of British parliamentarians, including several former ministers, have urged the Foreign Secretary to make progress on an international justice mechanism to achieve accountability in Sri Lanka, following the pardoning of a Sri Lankan soldier convicted for the murder of 8 Tamil civilians.

The Tamil National Party People’s Front (TNPF) leader Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam condemned the Presidential pardon issued to Sergeant Sunil Rathnayake and said that “nothing can be achieved through the Sri Lanka’s judiciary or its internal mechanisms.”

Rathnayake, was sentenced to death for killing eight Tamil Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in Mirusuvil, Jaffna on December 2000, after being convicted in June 2015 and had his sentence upheld in April 2019 at Sri Lanka’s supreme court.

Lawyer, human rights advocate and former Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, Ambika Satkunanathan, questioned the basis for the presidential pardon of Sunil Rathnayake and the legitimacy of the process, and used the case to underline the challenges Tamil families’ face in holding perpetrators accountable and obtain justice.

A Sinhala Buddhist monk has praised Sri Lanka’s pardon of a soldier who was convicted over the massacre of Tamil civilians, calling it “delightful news”.

Buddhist monk Medille Pannaloka stated that Sri Lanka’s defence secretary Kamal Gunaratne, who is also accused of overseeing war crimes, called him personally to inform him of Staff Sergeant Sunil Rathnayake’s pardon.

The US Acting Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia has condemned Sri Lanka’s pardon of a soldier who was convicted over the massacre of Tamils, calling it “deeply troubling”.

Former Chief Minister of Northern Province in Sri Lanka, C.V. Wigneswaran, slammed the Presidential pardon and release of convicted criminal Sergeant Sunil Ratnayake, referring to it as a “political act” rather than made in response in the best interests of the COVID-19 epidemic.

The British government has responded to a letter by Tamil diaspora groups calling on the Foreign Office to investigate alleged war crimes committed against Tamils by British mercenaries in Sri Lanka. The government has recommended referring the allegations to a special war crimes unit within the Metropolitan Police.

Minister of State for South Asia and the Commonwealth Lord Ahmad responded to the letter which was sent shortly following the publication of Keenie Meenie: The British Mercenaries Who Got Away with War Crimes by Phil Miller.