UN questions Govt on Fonseka's allegations
The UN Special Rapporteur on Extra-judicial, Summary
or Arbitrary Executions, has asked the government to provide
explanations with regard to the circumstances of the death of three
senior LTTE cadres and their families at the last stages of military
operations to defeat the LTTE in May this year.
The request for explanations follows the recent
statement made by Gen (Rtd) Sarath Fonseka, an opposition candidate in
the forthcoming Presidential election, alleging that such killings had
taken place, in an interview with The Sunday Leader of Dec. 13, 09.
The letter by the UN Special Rapporteur, Phillip
Alston, addressed to Mrs. Kshenuka Senewiratna, the Permanent
representative of Sri Lanka to the UN Office in Geneva states:
"These allegations were made by the Commander of the
Sri Lanka Army at the time of the events and subsequent Chief of Defence
Staff (now retired) General Gardihewa Sarath Chandralal Fonseka, in an
interview to the newspaper The Sunday Leader.
The accounts of journalists embedded with the SLA 58th
Brigade confirm some of the alleged circumstances of the death of
Messers. Nadeshan, Pulidevan and Ramesh and their families".
Here is the text of the letter sent by UN Special Rapporteur on
extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary execution to Permanent
Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations office at Geneva
18 December 2009
Excellency,
I have the honour to address you in my capacity as
Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial summary or arbitrary executions
pursuant to General Assembly resolution 60/251 and to Human Rights
Council resolution 8.3.
I write to your Excellency's Government with regard to
the circumstances of the death of three senior representatives of the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Mr. Balasingham Nadeshan, Mr.
Seevaratnam Pulidevan and Mr. Ramesh, as well as of members of their
families, in the night of 17 to 18 May 2009.
According to information I have received:
On 17 May 2009, the day before your Excellency's
Government announced that its forces had completely defeated the LTTE.
Messrs, Nadeshan, Pulidevan and Ramesh were trapped with other senior
cadres of the LTTE in a small area north of Vellamullivaikkal. Through
intermediaries they sought to establish contact with your Excellency's
Government to inquire how they could surrender to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA).
The reply, coming from the Secretary of Defence in your Excellency's
Government and from a Members of Parliament who is at the same time a
senior adviser to the President, and conveyed through the
intermediaries, was that they should walk towards the positions of the
SLA in a way that made their intentions clear and holding a white cloth.
The Commander of the SLA 58th Brigade, the unit on the front line with
the last LTTE position, however, received a telephone call from the
Secretary of Defence instructing him to order his forces to shoot those
surrendering. When Messrs. Nadeshan, Pulidevan and Ramesh walked towards
the SLA positions carrying white cloths in the first hours of 18 May
2009, soldiers opened fire on them and killed them. An unspecified
number of family members of the three men were killed as well.
These allegations were made by the Commander of the
Sri Lanka Army at the time of the events and subsequent Chief of Defence
Staff (now retired) General Gardihewa Sarath Chandralal Fonseka, in an
interview to the newspaper The Sunday Leader. The accounts of
journalists embedded with the SLA 58th Brigade confirm some of the
alleged circumstances of the death of Messrs. Nadeshan, Pulidevan and
Ramesh and their families.
While I do not wish to prejudge the accuracy of these
reports, I would like to refer your Excellency's Government to
fundamental legal rules applicable to all armed conflicts under
international humanitarian law and human rights law.
Common Article 5 (applicable to armed conflict not of
an international character) of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, to which
your Excellency's Government is a party, dictates that "[p]ersons taking
no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who
have laid down their and those placed hors de combat by sickness,
wounds, detention or any other cause, shall in all circumstances be
treated humanely [....]". To this end the following acts are and shall
remain prohibited at anytime and in any place whatsoever with respect to
the above-mentioned persons: (a) violence to life and person, in
particular murder of all kinds".
Similarly, an authoritative study of customary
international humanitarian law finds that attacking and killing persons
who are recognized as hors de combat is prohibited. Persons hors de
combat include anyone who clearly expresses an intention to surrender,
provided he or she abstains from any hostile act and does not attempt to
escape (Rule 47 0f the Customary Rules of International Humanitarian Law
identified in the study of the International Committee of the Red
Cross).
It is my responsibility under the mandate provided to
me by the Human Rights Council to seek to clarify all cases brought to
my attention. Since I am expected to report on the death of Messrs.
Nadeshan, Pulidevan and Ramesh, as well as of the members of their
families, I would be grateful for the cooperation and observations of
your Excellency's Government. In particular in relation to the following
questions:
1. Are the allegations summarized above accurate, If
not so, please share the information and documents proving their
inaccuracy.
2. What information does your Excellency's Government
have on the family members of Messrs. Nadeshan, Pulidevan and Ramesh
allegedly killed on 18 May 2009.
3. Please refer to the results of my military, police,
judicial and other inquiry or investigation carried out in relation to
the allegations summarized above.
I undertake to ensure that your Excellency's
Government's response to each of these questions is accurately reflected
in the report I will submit to the Human Rights Council for its
consideration.
Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my
highest consideration.
Philip Alston
Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or
arbitrary executions
UN's Request for
Explanation |
