{"id":51550,"date":"2016-01-28T15:56:58","date_gmt":"2016-01-28T22:56:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=51550"},"modified":"2016-01-28T15:57:13","modified_gmt":"2016-01-28T22:57:13","slug":"govt-foreign-judges-wont-be-used-in-war-crimes-investigation-international-assistance-only-for-ensuring-independent-fair-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2016\/01\/28\/govt-foreign-judges-wont-be-used-in-war-crimes-investigation-international-assistance-only-for-ensuring-independent-fair-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"Govt: Foreign judges won\u2019t be used in War Crimes investigation -International assistance only for ensuring independent, fair trial"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Zacki Jabbar\u00a0Courtesy The Island<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

January 28, 2016, 10:46 pm<\/span>
\nForeign judges would not be used in the independent war crimes inquiry scheduled to commence prior to the next session of the United Nations Human Rights Council sessions scheduled for June, the government said yesterday.<\/p>\n

Cabinet Spokesman and Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne clarifying the comments made by both President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to the foreign and local media told a news conference in Colombo that some of their statements had been taken out of context.<\/p>\n

The government, he said, was not on a witch hunt contrary to claims being made in some quarters; it was only trying to implement a UN-mandated resolution foisted on the country due to the arrogance and high handedness of the Rajapaksas.<\/p>\n

\"article_image\"<\/p>\n

Senaratne noted that those who were making a hue and cry had failed to realise the repercussions the country and people would have to face, if Sri Lanka, as a member of the United Nations and a signatory to many conventions, threw UN resolutions into the dustbin.<\/p>\n

There was no contradiction in what the President and Prime Minister were saying, Senaratne said: “International element does not mean foreign judges would be members of the Special Court to be established for the purpose. What it means is that international assistance to conduct an independent, fair and speedy trial to ascertain the truth of the accusations that have been levelled would be obtained. For example in forensic science, modern technology, time tested advice etc.”<\/p>\n

The Minister pointed out that Sri Lanka as President Sirisena, had said, possessed judges who were not only capable but could also be impartial in the assessment of a case regardless of the issues involved.<\/p>\n

The Opposition, needed to realise the seriousness of the issue at hand and understand that there was a limit to time buying, he added.<\/p>\n

Senaratne said that it was not possible for the government to go to the United Nations Human Rights Council Sessions scheduled for June and make a fool of itself by claiming that there had been no zero casualties in the conflict.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Zacki Jabbar\u00a0Courtesy The Island January 28, 2016, 10:46 pm Foreign judges would not be used in the independent war crimes inquiry scheduled to commence prior to the next session of the United Nations Human Rights Council sessions scheduled for June, the government said yesterday. Cabinet Spokesman and Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne clarifying the comments […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51550\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}