‘Tamils for Trump’ wants hybrid court for alleged war crimes held in India or UK

New York, United States (EINPresswire.com): Both President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe have refused to have a hybrid court in Sri Lanka due to constitutional impediment to the appointment of non-citizens to the highest court exercising criminal jurisdiction; in addition, these Sri Lankans have told the media that having a hybrid court in Sri Lanka might bring the war back in Sri Lanka.

It is best to have the hybrid court for Sri Lankan war crimes outside of Sri Lanka. Similar to the hybrid court for Sierra Leone that was held at The Hague, this will assure the safety of the witnesses and the victims and the court will not be restricted by any Sri Lankan constitutional limitations. Rather, it will follow UN or UNHRC requirements.

There are cases that have been moved out of the native country where the war crimes occurred, namely countries like Sierra Leone and Rwanda. In the case of Sierra Leone, due to security concerns over holding the trial in Sierra Leone, Taylor’s trial is being conducted by the hybrid court (Special Court for Sierra Leone) at the premises of the International Criminal Court in The Hague. In the case of Rwanda, the tribunal for Rwanda held court at Arusha, in neighbouring Tanzania.

We urge the US, UK, India and rest of the UNHRC member states to push the idea of having the hybrid court for Sri Lanka in India or UK. The Tamils need justice for their loved ones who were lost in the Sri Lankan Sinhalese massacre in 2009 of over 145,000 innocent Tamils, leaving 80,000 widows, making 50,000 orphans, and which included countless cases of rape, disappearances and many international crimes.

Most of the Tamil victims live in India. India is close to Sri Lanka, thus it is convenient to bring the witnesses and other victims from the northeast of Sri Lanka and perhaps some defenders from the south of Sri Lanka. Therefore, we suggest that any southern city in India would be an ideal place to hold the hybrid court for Sri Lanka. If Indian refuses to host the hybrid court, the second choice is London. Many Tamil victims and witnesses live in Western Europe. They can all travel to the UK without any difficulties. If the hybrid court for Sri Lanka can be held in London before Britain exits the European Union, it will be easy for the Tamil victims and the witnesses to travel to London from mainland Europe without any visa restriction. It is also the duty of the UK to solve the agony of Tamils in current Sri Lanka. It is the UK that united the Tamil and Sinhala kingdoms for their administrative purpose during their colonial rule. It is good to note that previous Ceylon colonialists such as the Portuguese and Dutch never united these two separate kingdoms for their administrative purpose. But when the British left the area formerly known as Ceylon, they left the Tamils under Sinhala majority rule instead of as a separate country as they were before the colonial time.

Tamils for Trump is a political activist group comprised of Americans; the majority are Tamil Americans. They believe that over 145,000 Tamil civilians living in Sri Lanka were massacred during the last weeks of the Sri Lankan ethnic war. They have also observed post war behaviours of the Sri Lankan Sinhalese victors, and concluded that Tamils in Sri Lanka will only be safe when this war torn island is divided into two individual self-governing nations. It is of interest to note that, according to UN Internal Review Report on Sri Lanka, around 70,000 Tamil civilians may have been massacred in the last six months of the ethnic war. Also, Rt. Rev. Dr. Rayappu Joseph, the Catholic Bishop of Mannar in Sri Lanka, gave a presentation to the Sri Lankan Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation.