LSSP rejects OHCHR report

By Chamodi Gunawardana

The Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) yesterday asserted that it rejected the recently released report of the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) and the manner of its preparation.

Issuing a media statement, LSSP General Secretary and former senior minister Tissa Vitharana claimed that the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) was seeking to interfere in Sri Lanka’s personal matters. 

“The UNHRC is trying to influence local outcomes and thereby gain credibility for some of their false charges. Their evidence carries no legal validity,” he charged.

The senior minister further alleged that the OHCHR was incorrect to state local judges, lawyers, inquiries and prosecutors were not competent. 

“Local judicial experts have served with distinction, even at the International Criminal Court (ICC), and have been widely recognised abroad. We have a well-established legal system. If there are shortages with regard to war crimes, it can be introduced via our Parliament,” he stressed.

Commenting on the OHCHR report’s content, Vitharana said: “It has indirectly targeted the former President, Defence Secretary, Army Chief and selected military personnel, but they have not been named. Therefore there is lack of legally valid evidence. The UNHRC wants to manufacture evidence in order to produce a harmful report.”

“We are not signatories to the Rome Statute to establish the ICC and have no obligation to fulfil its terms. We are under no legal compulsion to comply with a UNHRC hybrid war crime court,” he emphasised.