| Sri Lankan judge says shootings of 17 post-tsunami aid workers were murders |
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 The International Commission of Jurists called on Sri Lanka on Friday to ensure an impartial investigation into the shooting deaths of 17 aid workers helping with post-tsunami reconstruction and to offer protection to witnesses. "Fear is the enemy of justice," Michael Birnbaum, the ICJ's official observer at the inquest hearings told reporters Friday after a Sri Lankan magistrate ruled that the shooting deaths last August of 17 local staff of Action Against Hunger, an international relief agency, constituted murder.
The aid workers were found slain execution-style in the town of Muttur, 230 kilometers (140 miles) northeast of the capital, Colombo amid heavy fighting between government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels in early August. The killings prompted an international outcry and demands from the United Nations for an impartial investigation. After examining initial evidence and autopsy reports of the victims, Magistrate Wasantha Jinadasa on Thursday ordered police to quickly arrest and prosecute those responsible for the killings. "Measures that should be considered include: the use of evidence by video link, the physical protection of witnesses by a body independent of the police and army, and the temporary or permanent relocation of particularly vulnerable witnesses," said Birnbaum. According to Sri Lankan law, a magistrate leads initial inquiries of a crime and based on available evidence determines grounds for further investigation and prosecution. Then witnesses are called. "The Sri Lankan government needs to dispel serious concerns about whether the justice system is now able to carry out independent and credible investigations into who was responsible for these killings and to mount effective prosecutions," Birnbaum said. Violence between government troops and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam guerrillas escalated last August, after years of relative peace after a 2002 Norway-brokered cease-fire was signed. Some 4,000 people have died in renewed violence limiting the truce agreement only to paper. More than 65,000 people died in the conflict before the cease-fire. "This is an appalling atrocity," Birnbaum said. "The killers could not have been in any doubt about who they were executing." Source: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/09/asia/AS-GEN-Sri-Lanka-Aid-Workers.php |
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