Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) has urged the Sri Lanka Presidential Secretariat to publicise the documents pertaining to presidential pardon of Sunil Rathnayake for the Mirusuvil Massacre of Tamils in December 2000.

TISL insisted it was compulsory that the Presidential Secretariat and/or the Secretary to the President Dr. P.B. Jayasundera, immediately disclosed the; Report of the Trial Judge, Advice of the Attorney General and the Recommendation of the Justice Minister, in line with the provisions of the constitution and the RTI Act. 

The Hindu said there has been “justified outrage” after a Sri Lankan soldier on death row, who had been convicted over the murder of Tamil civilians, was pardoned by Sri Lanka’s president.

“It hardly needs emphasis that the exercise of the power of pardon is an act of compassion, and not a tool for political or electoral messaging,” said The Hindu.

Sri Lankan President, and accused war criminal, Gotabaya Rajapaksa has mandated that decision on lockdowns will be made at the highest levels of government and that no regional authority should make this decision.

Britain’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka met with Shavendra Silva, the war crimes accused head of the Sri Lankan military, as the two discussed the island’s coronavirus outbreak measures.

C.D Wickramarathna, Sri Lanka’s acting Inspector General of Police, has instructed Sri Lanka’s CID (Criminal Investigation Department) and police to pursue legal action against those on social media criticising government officials on the pretence that it obstructs their duties.

Sri Lanka’s police have arrested 206 people with a 6-hour span on Sunday for violating the island-wide curfew intended to curb the spread of coronavirus.

The United States military celebrated the end of a month-long training exercise with the Sri Lankan navy this week, which continued to take place despite the head of the Sri Lankan army being subject to travel sanctions over his role in overseeing war crimes.

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.