Notorious war crimes denier to represent Sri Lanka at UN rights body

Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS) and International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) have released damning details of persistent war crimes denials by a lawmaker who is to represent the Sri Lanka at the UN human rights council.

The global rights body convening in Geneva is to request Sri Lanka to deliver its unfulfilled commitments on accountability in the coming years.

Parliamentarians Mahinda Samarasinghe and Sarath Amunugama as well as Northern Province Governor Suren Raghavan will be in Geneva on behalf of the government to request the UNHRC not to "re-open old wounds" said the Sri Lankan President.

“I want to tell the UN not to put pressure on us,” Maithripala Sirisena told journalists in Colombo.

“What I want to tell them is don’t dig the past and re-open old wounds. Let us forget the past and ensure that we all live in peace.”

The latest statement by ITJP and JDS has described how one member of the delegation, Mahinda Samarasinghe had systematically denied war crimes, threatened journalists and allegedly intimidated a father whose child was killed.

In the immediate aftermath of the Sri Lankan civil war that killed at least 70,000 civilians, Samarasinghe who was the minister in charge of human rights at the time publicly threatened to punish JDS for exposing credible evidence of war crimes.

"We are hoping to take action against the JDS, which gave this clip to Channel 4,” Mahinda Samarasinghe told journalists in Colombo in October 2009.

He was referring to a short video clip showing extrajudicial killings of men believed to be Tamils apparently by government troops.

ITJP has emphasised that the job of Sri Lankan delegates to the UNHRC is not rejecting but adhering to international commitments made four years ago.

“Mr Samarasinghe’s job is to convince member states that Sri Lanka does intend to implement its 2015 promises to the international community regarding accountability for alleged war crimes,” said ITJP’s Executive Director, Yasmin Sooka.  How can any interlocutor take him seriously in this role when he continues to deny there’s even a problem to fix.”

Read ITJP and JDS joint statement in full:

Joint Press Release: Sri Lanka sends war crimes denier to Geneva as part of official delegation.

Johannesburg: Sri Lanka is sending a politician to represent its Government in Geneva who has systematically denied war crimes, threatened journalists and allegedly intimidated a father whose child was killed. Media reports say Mahinda Samarasinghe is part of a three-man delegation despatched to the Human Rights Council for the current session.

“ Mr Samarasinghe ’ s job is to convince member states that Sri Lanka does intend to implement its 2015 promises to the international community regarding accountability for alleged war crimes. How can any interlocutor take him seriously in this role when he continues to den y there’s even a problem to fix,” said ITJP’s Executive Director, Yasmin Sooka. 

Mahinda Samarasinghe was the Rajapaksa-era Human Rights Minister. A UNbacked international body reported that a witness, Dr Manoharan, gave sworn testimony that Mahinda Samarasinghe had contacted him by phone and told him not to talk to internationals, that members of the security forces had killed his son, and that he would assist him and his family with a new life in Colombo. This incident is well known and has been widely reported in the Sri Lankan media. The same body, the International Indepenedent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP), described this in its report as:  

“… intimidation and/or attempted bribery of a material witness from the very Minister responsible fo r protecting human rights in Sri Lanka, but it was intimidation from a person who was, and remains part of the GoSL’s team that represents Sri Lanka at international forums on human rights..”. 

Twelve years later, members of IIGEP would be surprised to know Mahinda Samarasinghe is still representing Sri Lanka in Geneva despite the change of government and professed commitment to dealing with the country’s violent past.

“This shows Sri Lanka isn’t serious about accountability and it doesn’t even have the decency to pretend well,” said Sinhalese exiled journalist Bashana Abeywardene of Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka. “Imagine what it’s like for victims and their families to see a man l ike this in Geneva who has systematically denied there was enforced disappearance or summ a ry executions at the end of the war. Mahinda S amarasin ghe hasn’t indicated that he’s changed his mind in the intervening years  – quite the contrary . ”

Mahinda Samarasinghe threatened reprisals against the Journalists for Democracy group in 2009 after they gave videos of naked bound prisoners being summarily executed by soldiers to Channel 4 News for broadcast.The footage was subsequently authenticated by the United Nations. Nevertheless just last year, Mahinda Samarasinghe repeated the allegation that Channel 4 news had fabricated the execution videos.

“This is a man who threatens journalists just for doing their job , who allegedly intimidates bereaved families an d who denies allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity that multiple UN bodies have investigated and found credible . UN officials and diplomats need to make it clear to him how unacc e ptable his position is and to ask themselves how thi s Government can be serious about its commitments if this is their representative ,” said Mr Abeywardene.

In 2016, Sri Lanka sent an alleged perpetrator of torture as part of its delegation to the UN Committee Against Torture. It has yet to respond to the UN Committee’s questions regarding the individual.☐

© JDS

left

Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka

  • JDS is the Sri Lankan partner organization of international media rights group, Reporters Without Borders (RSF). The launching of this website was made possible by the EU’s European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR), of which Reporters Without Borders is a beneficiary.