On the run Gotabaya and the elusive accountability

Former Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa is still on the run after fleeing the country in the early hours of 12 July. He first fled to the Maldives in a Sri Lanka Air Force plane. Within days he moved to Singapore and a few days ago he is reported to have reached Thailand. 

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said he was aware of Rajapaksa’s intended visit and that it was allowed for ‘humanitarian reasons’ because the former president was seeking asylum in a third country. A Thai foreign ministry spokesperson, Tanee Sangrat, said Rajapaksa’s “stay is temporary in nature with the aim of onward travel. No political asylum has been sought.” Thai authorities also confirmed that the Government of Sri Lanka had requested for the granting of visa for the former head of state.

According to international law, as found mostly in the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol to the Convention, a refugee is a person who is “outside of their country of nationality and is unable or unwilling to avail themself of the protection of that country because of a well-founded fear of persecution for reason of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion.” In the case of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, he is not fleeing in fear of the Government of Sri Lanka. In fact, as the Thai authorities have confirmed, the GoSL has intervened in securing a visa for him and his wife.

Further the Refugee Convention explicitly notes exclusion criteria for granting asylum for an individual fleeing his country even if he fulfils the inclusion criteria. The convention states, “The provisions of this Convention shall not apply to any person with respect to whom there are serious reasons for considering that… he has committed a crime against peace, a war crime, or a crime against humanity, as defined in the international instruments drawn up to make provision in respect of such crimes.”

Gotabaya Rajapaksa stands accused of some of the most heinous crimes committed in this country. He has been accused of involvement of war crimes, including the killing of surrendered combatants and civilians and the killing, abduction and torture of journalists, activists, combatants and political opponents. He is also accused of corruption, embezzlement and misappropriation of State funds. His disastrous economic policies and mismanagement precipitated the worst economic crisis in the history of the country, delivering its first ever sovereign default. Gotabaya Rajapaksa has not been held accountable for any of his accused crimes. 

While there was some progress in the investigations into his crimes during the Yahapalana regime, most of these cases were deliberately stalled either through political deal making, interference into investigations by the Police and prosecutions by the Attorney General’s department and more alarmingly through manipulation of the judiciary. Judges hearing his cases deliberately stalled judicial processes and on one such instance a judge recused herself, stating a conflict of interest, after stalling the process for several years. This judge was later given a plum position within the Gotabaya Rajapaksa administration.

It has been made abundantly clear that justice will not be delivered to Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s victims by the Sri Lankan judicial system. His handpicked prime minister is now the president and the party that brought him into the highest office of the land still holds an overwhelming majority in Parliament. If Gotabaya Rajapaksa is to return to Sri Lanka, he would be immune from the judicial processes since the current State apparatus is geared to protect him against prosecution. Therefore, expecting justice within Sri Lanka for his past crimes or incompetence as president is highly improbable.

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 harms caused to them. With the Sri Lankan judiciary, its Government and the overall State apparatus proving time and time again that it is unwilling and incapable of delivering justice for the crimes committed by Gotabaya Rajapaksa, it is time to seek international options in this regard. The people of Sri Lanka, especially the victims of his crimes, deserve nothing less.