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Members of the IIGEP have also expressed concerns. “We need to set up the network
of protection before [asking] the people to talk, otherwise we will face
assassinations,” said Bernard Kouchner, a member of the IIGEP until May, when he
became foreign minister of France. He added, “Without that, this is impossible. The
number of people who have been assassinated is too high.” 272
Fifth, the mandate of the commission allows a high level of participation by the
attorney general’s office and the police. The former assists with investigations and
inquiries and the latter works with the commission’s investigating unit. The
involvement of government agencies in an ostensibly independent commission’s
work raises serious concerns about conflict of interest. The issue of the
independence of the attorney general’s office is particularly relevant given that the
attorney general is unilaterally appointed by the executive, bypassing the 17 th
amendment (see above). As the Centre for Policy Alternatives wrote in one of its
briefing papers on the CoI,
With the increasing involvement of the [attorney general’s] department,
many will question whether the CoI and IIGEP are in reality
independent of the State or whether they are indeed functioning with
and/or on the advice of the Government and Government actors. 273
The first months of the CoI’s work have heightened these concerns. Although the
Commissions of Inquiry Act and the CoI mandate empower the CoI to obtain
information for its investigations, the government is reported to have withheld some
of the requested material. According to a press account, the Colombo magistrate
refused to provide the CoI with records it wanted on the assassination of Foreign
Minister Kadirgamar because releasing the documents would interfere with an
ongoing investigation. 274
272 Simon Gardner, “INTERVIEW-Witness Protection Vital to Sri Lanka Abuses Probe,” Reuters, March 10, 2007.
273 Centre for Policy Alternatives, “Commission of Inquiry and the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons:
Commentary on Developments,” January-April 2007, CPA Policy Brief no. 2, 2007
http://www.cpalanka.org/research_papers/Policy_Brief_2_2007.pdf (accessed May 30, 2007).
274 Susitha R. Fernando, “Release of Kardigamar documents to Presidential Commission refused,” Daily Mirror, March 30,
2007, http://www.dailymirror.lk/2007/03/30/news/03.asp (accessed July 16, 2007).
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