Sri Lankan government reiterates no foreign judges for war crimes inquiry

Sri Lanka's Leader of the House, Minister Lakshman Kiriella reassured parliament on Friday that foreign judges would not hear cases within a war crimes inquiry, Colombo papers reported. 

Stressing that no 'war heroes' would be put before foreign judges, Kiriella said, “we were pushed towards involving international experts in a probe on the war because of the mistakes made by the previous government such as moving towards impeaching former Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranaike and arresting former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka."

“The advice sought from the international experts will be confined to technical assistance. No foreign expert will be allowed to hear the case,” Kiriella added, responding to a question by a fellow MP, Dayasiri Jayasekera, on why Sri Lanka is working with international experts after claiming that Sri Lanka has an independent judicial system. 

“It is you who boast saying the legal system in this country is independent but you try to get international judges involved in the probe under the UNHRC resolution,” Jayasekera said. 

UPFA MP Shehan Semasinghe asked why the government wanted to continue with the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution 30/1, when the USA which co-sponsored the resolution has withdrawn. 

Kiriella responded stating, "Sri Lanka had prepared a new resolution which is more favourable than what was in the past years."