Former President Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka, wanted in Singapore by rights group.

Former President Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka, wanted in Singapore by rights group.

 

The attorney general of Singapore has received a criminal complaint from a rights organisation investigating alleged atrocities in Sri Lanka, demanding the detention of former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa for his part in the country’s protracted civil conflict.

 

According to a copy of the complaint obtained by Reuters, the International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) said Rajapaksa violated the Geneva Conventions severely in 2009 while serving as the nation’s defence minister.

 

According to the South African-based ITJP, who fled his nation after months of upheaval due to its economic difficulties, the alleged violations were subject to prosecution in Singapore based on the principle of universal jurisdiction.

 

After leaving on July 13, Rajapaksa announced his resignation in Singapore the following day. The president and prime minister’s residences and offices had been overrun by anti-government demonstrators.

 

One of the attorneys who drafted the complaint, Alexandra Lily Kather, told Reuters by phone from Berlin that ‘the criminal complaint that has been filed is (based on) verifiable information on both the crimes that have been committed, as well as on evidence really linking the individual in question, who is now in Singapore.’

 

With this complaint, its own law, and its own policy, Singapore has a rare opportunity to speak truth to power.