The Guardian (21/01) – Uncovering Sri Lanka’s war crimes
by Peter Bouckaert
Despite promises to the UN, the Sri Lankan government has yet to investigate the serious crimes of Sri Lanka’s civil war
Despite verbal acrobatics reminiscent of George Orwell’s 1984, Sri Lankan officials have been unable to dismiss a shocking mobile phone video from last January purportedly showing Sri Lankan soldiers summarily executing naked and bound captives. The government has consistently claimed the video is fake, without providing any evidence that the gruesome scene was staged or the footage tampered with.
Now, the top United Nations envoy responsible for investigating extralegal executions around the world has added his voice to those believing the tape to be genuine. After commissioning three experts on forensic pathology, video analysis and firearms to review the tape, the envoy, Philip Alston, told the BBC, “You cannot fake the precise sort of reaction which the human body makes when shot at close range by such a weapon.”
Of course Sri Lanka’s public relations team went into its usual overdrive, denouncing the “bias” of the UN expert and suggesting that he was on a “personal crusade” to force a war crimes investigation over the allegations. More
