President tells BBC no foreign judges will be allowed, but PM speaks of foreign participation

With local council elections only six months away, according to his own agenda, President Maithripala Sirisena dropped a bombshell last week.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe talking to Jon Snow (not seen) in the video grab taken from Channel 4 footage

He declared that foreign judges and prosecutors should not be involved in investigations into allegations of war crimes by troops and Tiger guerrillas. It was only a week earlier he declared that local polls would be held in July. There is still some doubt on the date. The Delimitation Commission would have to first re-define boundaries of some local bodies. Thereafter, several amendments to local government laws will have to be passed by Parliament. One such amendment is to make provision for an increase in representation of women.

Sirisena was perhaps trying to nip in the bud a possible campaign at the polls by the opposition, backed by his predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa, about troops being tried by foreign judges. Leave alone a foreign judge, the very fact that they are being tried even by a local court is such a sensitive issue particularly in rural areas. It could be projected as the troops being punished for defeating the guerrillas. Sirisena told BBC’s Sinhala service Sandeshaya that neither the judges nor foreign prosecutors should be involved in an investigation into alleged war crimes. However, the remarks set off anger among local and overseas Tamil groups. The foreign offices of some western governments were livid. United Nations Human Rights High Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein who arrives in Colombo on Friday night, a UN source in Geneva said, would raise issue with President Sirisena.

“He will ascertain whether the Sri Lanka Government is going back on the commitment made when it co-sponsored the US-backed resolution,” the source who did not wish to be identified said. On Saturday, Zaid will fly to Jaffna for a meeting with Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran and others. Upon his return, he is due to meet President Sirisena, Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe and Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera. Thereafter, the Human Rights High Commissioner is to have a detailed meeting in Colombo with Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MPs on the basis they are key stakeholders.

Sandeshaya interview
The BBC Sandeshaya report, later widely reported by its English channel, said: “The President of Sri Lanka has said foreign judges and prosecutors should not be involved in an investigation into allegations of war crimes. In a BBC interview, President Maithripala Sirisena said the country did not need to ‘import’ specialists. Both the army and Tamil Tiger rebels are accused of atrocities in the civil war that ended in 2009.

“The Government previously backed a UN resolution calling for a war crimes court supported by foreign judges. But on Thursday (January 21), the President said ‘I will never agree to international involvement in this matter. We have more than enough specialists, experts and knowledgeable people in our country to solve our internal issues,’ he said. ‘This investigation should be internal and indigenous, without violating the laws of the country and I believe in the judicial system and other relevant authorities in this regard. The international community need not worry about matters of state interest.’

“Asked when the court might be set up, he said, these things cannot be done instantly or in a hurried manner. ‘We will certainly reach our target but it’s a process.’ In October 2015, Sri Lanka co-sponsored a UN Human Rights Council resolution calling for a special judicial mechanism to prosecute war crimes to be established — with support from Commonwealth and foreign judges, prosecutors and investigators…..”

Locally, the TNA condemned Sirisena’s comments.
TNA spokesperson and Jaffna district Parliamentarian M. A Sumanthiran told a special media briefing at the Opposition Leader’s office that the Government had already agreed to include foreign judges, according to a resolution passed at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in October last year. He said Sri Lanka co-sponsored the Resolution and it could not go back on the assurances given to the international community.

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Watch the channel 4 interview with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe