Impunity island

Following the death of Raja Kollure last week, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has picked Admiral of the Fleet, Wasantha Karannagoda as the Governor of the North-Western Province. Admiral Karannagoda was instrumental in the defeat of the LTTE in 2009, when he served as the war-time Sri Lanka Navy Chief. Under his command, several floating armouries operated by the LTTE were destroyed in the high seas, cutting off a steady supply of weapons and armour to the Tigers and denting their military capabilities.

But Admiral Karannagoda’s actions during his time as Commander of the Navy has also put him at the centre of a gruesome abduction and murder trial, involving the kidnapping for ransom of at least 11 – mostly Tamil – men. These abductions were allegedly carried out in 2008-2009, while Karannagoda was commanding the navy. It is alleged that a group of naval personnel who were attached to its intelligence division were engaged in an extortion racket, abducting persons and demanding ransom from their families. CID investigations into the heinous mercenary operation by naval personnel revealed that those detained for ransom were eventually shot and killed at the Navy’s Eastern Command in Trincomalee.

In 2019, the Attorney General’s Department indicted several Sri Lanka Navy officers on charges of abducting and murdering of 11 men. The ‘Navy 11’ case is unique, in that the witnesses and the accused are past and serving members of the Sri Lanka Navy. While Karannagoda commanded the country’s naval forces, a group of officer racketeers were using the fog of war to abduct wealthy Tamil and Muslim men and then extort their parents for money and gold. 

In its gruesomeness and cruelty, the Navy 11 case is without parallel. In no other case investigated by the CID about atrocities during the 2005-2014 era, has such sordid detail emerged about the nature and operational aspects of the crime. While the ringleaders of the racket were Navy personnel at mid-level and junior ranks, Karannagoda as the 14th Accused, was implicated for having knowledge of the crime and its cover-up. 

Recently however, the same Attorney General’s Department that previously indicted Wasantha Karannagoda announced to the High Court that it does not wish to proceed with the prosecution of the former commander. No reason was given for this about turn. Other than the change of Government and the election of war-time defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, it is unclear what material changes have happened in the case for the Attorney General to change his mind about indicting the former navy chief.

The Navy 11 case is regarded as one of the most emblematic of impunity cases in the Sri Lankan criminal justice system. The Penal Code of Sri Lanka is abundantly capable of handling the alleged crimes of abduction, extortion, and the murder of civilians. These are not crimes that happened within the context of the conflict, which in some cases will require new laws that would pave the way for the state to prosecute alleged war crimes. The fact the Sri Lankan judicial system has failed to offer justice to the victims in this seemingly straightforward case is cited as an example of Sri Lanka’s broken criminal justice system, its patronage and influence by the executive, and argued as sufficient grounds reason to seek justice in international jurisdictions.

The pardon for child killer Sergeant Sunil Ratnayake, former soldier of the President’s own Gajaba regiment, the attempts to absolve and vindicate military intelligence personnel who murdered and abducted journalists and the appointment of Admiral of the Fleet Karannagoda to high office appears part of the ethos of the current Government. 

Under these circumstances the mothers and families of the missing 11, allegedly abducted and murdered by a section of Sri Lanka’s armed forces, sworn to protect and defend the country’s citizen, would be well within their rights to demand an international investigation and prosecution of perpetrators. For 13 long years, they have borne witness to the inherent incapacity of Sri Lanka’s criminal justice system to hold perpetrators in uniform to account, however heinous the crime and no matter how compelling the evidence. It appears political patronage for and deference to the armed forces runs deep, even within the judiciary, where victims must seek redress.