Govt remains committed to conducting impartial investigations on alleged crimes by security forces
Thursday, 5 December 2013 00:00
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The military yesterday said that the Government remains committed to conduct impartial and comprehensive criminal investigations and domestic inquiries into any complaints and information received, relating to alleged perpetration of crimes by members of the armed forces and the police.
In response to a statement issued by the ACF containing allegations implicating the security forces Military Spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya said: “If the ACF (or any other organisation for that matter) had in its possession evidence which could bring the perpetrators of the crime to justice, the first thing they should have done was to produce that evidence and support and strengthen the local investigations and not withhold such evidence for almost seven years.”
The statement issued by the Military Spokesman is as follows:
The content of the press release reportedly issued by ACF on 3 December 2013 contains allegations of a very serious nature implicating the security forces of the country. Whilst it claims that it is not seeking to be or replacing a judge it continues nonetheless to deliver a judgment based on evidence which it claims is in its possession.
If the ACF (or any other organisation for that matter) had in its possession evidence which could bring the perpetrators of the crime to justice, the first thing they should have done was to produce that evidence and support and strengthen the local investigations and not withhold such evidence for almost seven years.
The fact that they did not come up with so called evidence and chose instead to release a public report on the matter, calls to question the motives of the organization in withholding such evidence in the first instance.
This is another instance of a pattern which has emerged since the end of the conflict where certain organisations level allegations against the GoSL without providing sufficient details to enable an investigation. These accusations are then repeated in several other documents, by different agencies, thereby contributing to forming an opinion which is then propagated, without substantiation.
The GoSL has also not been provided the evidence which is claimed to be in the possession of the authors of these reports in order to investigate and respond. They conclude these allegations with a call for an independent international investigation. The claims made by ACF in its media report are no different.
The GoSL remains committed to conduct impartial and comprehensive criminal investigations and domestic inquiries into any complaints and information received, relating to alleged perpetration of crimes by members of the armed forces and the police.
