The promotion of a senior Sri Lankan army general whose division was implicated in serious human rights abuses casts doubt on the new government's pledges to credibly investigating alleged war crimes said Human Rights Watch on Sunday.
Calling the promotion of Major General Jagath Dias, who led the Army’s 57th division during the last phases of the ethnic conflict, "a slap in the face for victims," the Human Rights Watch Director, Brad Adams, said,
“The government’s appointment of General Dias is further proof that Sri Lanka needs an independent justice process with a strong international component that can undertake impartial investigations and prosecutions. Six years since the end of the brutal conflict, the victims of the war still await justice.”
“Sri Lanka’s new government has promised genuine accountability for wartime abuses, but naming the general of an abusive unit the army chief is a slap in the face for victims.”
Accused war criminal Jagath Dias made Chief of Staff of Sri Lanka’s Army (14 May 2015)
Calling the promotion of Major General Jagath Dias, who led the Army’s 57th division during the last phases of the ethnic conflict, "a slap in the face for victims," the Human Rights Watch Director, Brad Adams, said,
“The government’s appointment of General Dias is further proof that Sri Lanka needs an independent justice process with a strong international component that can undertake impartial investigations and prosecutions. Six years since the end of the brutal conflict, the victims of the war still await justice.”
“Sri Lanka’s new government has promised genuine accountability for wartime abuses, but naming the general of an abusive unit the army chief is a slap in the face for victims.”
Accused war criminal Jagath Dias made Chief of Staff of Sri Lanka’s Army (14 May 2015)