US sanctions a reminder of Sri Lanka’s failure in delivering justice

The US State Department added Prabath Bulathwatte, a serving officer of the Sri Lanka Army, into its sanctions list this week signalling yet another failure of the Sri Lankan State and its judiciary to deliver justice against gross human rights violations. The State Department in its press release noted that it is imposing sanctions against Bulathwatte “former head of a clandestine Sri Lankan Army platoon, known as the ‘Tripoli Platoon,’ for his involvement in a gross violation of human rights, namely torture and/or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment of Sri Lankan journalist, Keith Noyahr, in May 2008.”

According to investigations carried out by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Police, then Major Bulathwatte was a military intelligence officer heading a death squad that was responsible for several heinous crimes against senior journalists. These included the killing of editor Lasantha Wickrematunga, and the assaults on senior journalists Keith Noyahr and Upali Tennekoon. Other intelligence units attached to the army were also found to be involved in the abduction and enforced disappearance of journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda and several other journalists.

With regard to the Keith Noyahr investigation, a chain of telephone calls was traced from then Secretary to the Ministry of Defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa to Major Bulawatte during the time the latter was holding Noyahr after his abduction. Similarly, the investigation into the killing of Lasantha Wickremetunga disclosed that members of Bulathwatte’s ‘Tripoli Platoon’ were involved in that crime as well. The chain of command and motive points a direct finger at Gotabaya Rajapaksa and despite extensive investigations carried out by the CID there has not been a single successful prosecution of these crimes or a single individual held accountable.

During the Yahapalana regime, President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe were actively involved in scuttling investigations and preventing prosecutions. Then minister of law and order was accused of ‘leaking’ investigations carried out by the CID to Rajapaksa’s personal lawyer. Both these individuals are now holding high office in President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s government. Their deals with the Rajapaksa family guaranteed a safe exit for the leaders of the Yahapalana regime and eventually placed Wickremesinghe in the highest office in the land but witnessed the Police officers who investigated, the prosecutors from the Attorney General’s Department who prosecuted and the journalists who reported on these crimes being mercilessly persecuted.

The Director of the CID Shani Abeysekera who spearheaded these investigations was arrested and incarcerated for over 11 months by the Gotabaya administration. Inspector of Police Nishantha Silva who cracked the case on the Tripoli Platoon and linked Bulathwatte to Rajapaksa had to flee the country and was hounded by state operatives and media organisations. Many others have suffered a similar fate.

Prabath Bulathwatte is a mere pawn used in committing these crimes. He had no personal vendetta against the journalists that were killed, abducted, or assaulted. It is evidently clear who gave those orders to Bulathwatte, his Tripoli Platoon and numerous other military units that were used with impunity to commit heinous crimes. It is also abundantly clear that there is little chance these accused criminals, including Gotabaya Rajapaksa will see justice within Sri Lanka. He and others accused of these crimes along with those who protected and shielded them from prosecution are now on the same team.

The State Department’s latest listing is a clear signal that even though the Sri Lankan justice system cannot and will not prosecute these crimes, there still remains the option for international, extraterritorial jurisdiction for accountability and justice. As long as the minutest possibility for such action remains viable, those responsible for these crimes and those who enabled, abetted, and covered up for them should not rest easy for they should surely know that the arc of history will always bend towards justice.