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Group seeks ex-Sri Lankan president’s arrest in Singapore

Published:Monday | July 25, 2022 | 9:03 AM
Then-Sri Lankan presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa speaks during a news conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka, October 15, 2019. Lawyers from the International Truth and Justice Project — an evidence-gathering organization administered by a South Africa-based nonprofit foundation — filed a complaint, requesting the immediate arrest of Rajapaksa for his role as the secretary of defence during Sri Lanka’s civil war, which ended in 2009, the group said in a release on Sunday, July 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — A human rights group said Sunday it had filed a criminal complaint with Singapore's attorney general to seek the arrest of Sri Lanka's former president for alleged war crimes during his country's civil war.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa was ousted from office over his country's economic collapse and fled to Singapore earlier this month.

He was defence secretary during Sri Lanka's civil war, which ended in 2009.

The International Truth and Justice Project — an evidence-gathering organization administered by a South Africa-based nonprofit foundation —said its lawyers filed the complaint requesting Rajapaksa's immediate arrest.

The complaint alleges Rajapaksa committed grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions during the civil war “and that these are crimes subject to domestic prosecution in Singapore under universal jurisdiction.”

Sri Lanka's economic crisis has left the nation's 22 million people struggling with shortages of essentials, including medicine, fuel and food.

Months of protests have focused on the Rajapaksa political dynasty, which has ruled the country for most of the past two decades.

“The economic meltdown has seen the government collapse, but the crisis in Sri Lanka is really linked to structural impunity for serious international crimes going back three decades or more,” said the ITJP's executive director, Yasmin Sooka.

“This complaint recognises that it's not just about corruption and economic mismanagement but also accountability for mass atrocity crimes,” she added.

Sri Lanka's civil war killed 100,000 people, according to conservative United Nations estimates. The actual number is believed to be much higher.

A report from a United Nations panel of experts said at least 40,000 ethnic minority Tamil civilians were killed in the final months of the fighting alone.

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