Hasina is indicted while Gota roams free

A Bangladeshi court last week ordered the arrest of self-exiled former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India more than two months ago after being toppled in a student-led uprising. Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal issued arrest warrants for Hasina and 45 others, ordering that they attend court by 18 November.

The former premier was at the helm of a crackdown on student protests, which killed more than 1,000 people. The protests led by students began with demonstrations demanding the government abolish its practice of reserving a third of civil service jobs for relatives of war veterans, before spiralling into wider protests calling for Hasina’s resignation. Human rights groups accused the prime minister of using excessive force against protesters.

In contrast, it has been over two years since Sri Lanka’s then president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country like a thief in the night only to return two months later to full immunity under the law and all privileges of an ex-president. To date, there has been no accountability for the crimes he is alleged to have committed since 2005.  

It is alleged that Rajapaksa committed grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions during the civil war. In addition to war crimes, Gotabaya Rajapaksa is accused of numerous other crimes including the murder, abduction, and torture of numerous journalists, activists and political opponents. He is further accused of corruption, embezzlement and misappropriation of State funds.

While there was some progress in the investigations into crimes committed by Rajapaksa during the Yahapalana regime, most of these cases were deliberately stalled through political deal-making, interference in investigations by the police and prosecution by the Attorney General’s department. There were also several shameful instances where the judges hearing these cases deliberately stalled judicial processes. In one such instance, a judge recused herself, stating a conflict of interest, after stalling the process for several years. This allowed Rajapaksa to make a successful presidential bid after which all his judicial cases were thrown out. The policemen who investigated, the prosecutors who prosecuted and the journalists who reported these cases were severely persecuted while the judge who recused herself from hearing Rajapaksa’s case was given a plump position within the executive.

The daughter of slain journalist, Lasantha Wickrematunge has already initiated legal action against Rajapaksa for her father’s killing. Several individuals who were tortured by the security forces also have sought to hold Rajapaksa accountable in international courts. There is nothing wrong in others following this path. If there are concerns about the precedent such international judicial action set, then those who have such concerns should have clamoured for domestic actions and to strengthen the domestic judicial mechanisms.

The new administration of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake was elevated to the highest office on the promise of justice and accountability for past crimes. No one epitomises immunity and impunity for past crimes as Gotabaya Rajapaksa. If the present Government is not to be yet another disappointment it must enable the criminal justice apparatus to deliver justice against individuals such as Rajapaksa. The police investigations should be comprehensive, the Attorney General should prosecute without interference from the executive and the judiciary must be allowed to function independently to restore some confidence in the system.

While Gotabaya Rajapaksa is one individual his victims are many. Whether these victims are dead or alive they deserve their day in court and justice for the harm caused to them.