Sarath-Mahinda ?war? gets dirtier
December 15 2009 – Sunday leader
Interview of General Sarath Fonseka, the challenger of President Mahinda Rajapaksa?s re-election, shook the Sri Lanka government?s carefully built edifice of waging a ?humanitarian war? it had built to ward off accusations of genocide and human rights violations committed by the army during the Eelam war.
The General accused the Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa of instructing a key ground commander in the north that all LTTE leaders must be killed and not allowed to surrender. The three key LTTE leaders allegedly done to death were probably Nadesan, Pulidevan and Ramesh who wanted to surrender. According to the army, their bodies were found on May 18 during operations on the last stronghold of the LTTE. The General?s accusation only confirms earlier suspicions on this count. There were similar accusations of Prabhakaran?s death also but few appear to believe that.
However, the General appeared to have learnt the fine art of politics in double time. Like a good politician, he quickly denied that he made the accusation, and said he was misquoted. Despite the denial, as it always happens in political misquotes, the damage was already done. And it is clear that the General has challenged the government on its weakest wicket ? accusations of human rights violations and genocide ? in its war against the Tamil insurgents.
»Read more
Rajapakse brothers, Brigadier Silva, presumptive war criminals, says Boyle
December 15 2009 – Tamilnet
Former Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander General Sarath Fonseka’s statement to the effect that the Rajapaksa Brothers, Gotabhaya Rajapakse and Basil Rajapakse, and Brigadier Shavendra Silva ordered the murder of surrendering LTTE leaders protected by a White Flag pursuant to a prior agreement to surrender that way sets forth a prima facie “war crime” under the customary international laws of war as codified into and exemplified by U.S. Army Field Manual 27-10 “The Law of Land Warfare” (1956), paragraph 504, said Professor Francis A. Boyle, University of Illinois College of Law, and an expert in International Law, in a note sent to TamilNet.
»Read more
Sri Lankan war crimes video is authentic, Times investigation finds
December 15 2009 – Times Online
Video footage that appears to show Sri Lankan troops committing war crimes by summarily executing captured Tamil Tiger fighters on the battlefield was not fabricated, as claimed by the Sri Lankan Government, an investigation by The Times has found.
The findings come after General Sarath Fonseka, the former head of the army, alleged that Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the Defence Minister, had ordered that surrendering Tiger leaders be killed rather than taken prisoner in the final days of the brutal 26-year civil war that ended in May.
The claims, vehemently denied by the Government, added to a lengthy list of war crimes allegations against it.
The video of the alleged battlefield executions, which was aired on Channel 4 in August, shows a naked man, bound and blindfolded, being made to kneel.
An analysis for The Times by Grant Fredericks, an independent forensic video specialist who is also an instructor at the FBI National Academy, suggests otherwise. He found no evidence of digital manipulation, editing or any other special effects. However, subtle details consistent with a real shooting, such as a discharge of gas from the barrel of the weapon used, were visible.
“This level of subtle detail cannot be virtually reproduced. This is clearly an original recording,” said Mr Fredericks, who was previously the head of the Vancouver police forensic video unit in Canada.
»Read more
Sri Lanka execution video ‘not fake’
December 15 2009 – Channel 4
A forensic video specialist says Channel 4 News footage appearing to show the execution of Tamil Tigers was not fabricated, as the Sri Lankan government has claimed.
It was a quick and violent end to a long and violent war; 80,000 dead; maybe 20,000 in what was called the No Fire Zone in the last few bloody weeks.
Then, in August, this grim video was obtained by and broadcast by Channel 4 News. The raw footage, a continuous shot one minute eight seconds long, purported to show the casual execution of eight bound, blindfolded, naked Tamil men by Sri Lankan government soldiers.
Now, an independent expert in forensic video analysis has examined the footage, at the request of The Times. Grant Fredericks is a former policeman who works with the FBI as an expert witness.
He concluded that the video, consistent with a cell-phone recording, showed “no evidence of digital manipulation, editing or any other special effects.”
»Read more
As Killing of Those Seeking to Surrender in Sri Lanka Is Alleged, Will UN Investigate?
December 14 2009 – Inner City Press
UNITED NATIONS, December 14 — In the final days in Sri Lanka of what even the UN called the bloodbath on the beach, there were reports that when some in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam sought to surrender with white flags, they were killed by the Army. The UN’s Vijay Nambiar, it was reported, had urged the LTTE officials to come out waving white flags.
»Read more
Follow Us On