Untitled - International Commission of Jurists
Untitled - International Commission of Jurists
Untitled - International Commission of Jurists
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enforced disappearances were reported in Jaffna consequent to the security forces<br />
regaining control <strong>of</strong> the peninsula from the LTTE. 38<br />
<strong>Commission</strong>s <strong>of</strong> inquiry appointed by President Kumaratunge to inquire into the July<br />
1983 communal riots, the torture chamber at Batalanda and the widespread<br />
disappearances <strong>of</strong> the post-1988 period came to naught, 39 despite exhaustive and timeconsuming<br />
investigations. More controversially, Special Presidential <strong>Commission</strong>s <strong>of</strong><br />
Inquiry 40 were appointed by President Kumaratunge to inquire into the assassinations<br />
<strong>of</strong> political leaders and military leaders during the previous UNP regime, including<br />
the posthumously promoted Lt. General Denzil Kobbekaduwa and Minister <strong>of</strong><br />
National Security Lalith Athulathmudali. Many <strong>of</strong> these commissions, though headed<br />
by judges, concluded that elements <strong>of</strong> the UNP itself were responsible for the<br />
assassinations. The weak evidentiary and legal basis <strong>of</strong> these findings gave rise to<br />
serious doubts. 41 Similarly impugned 42 were the findings <strong>of</strong> another Special<br />
Presidential <strong>Commission</strong> <strong>of</strong> Inquiry in regard to the 1988 assassination <strong>of</strong> Vijaya<br />
Kumaratunge. 43<br />
Investigations into mass graves at Suriyakande, Duriappah Stadium, Chemmani also<br />
floundered, reinforcing the climate <strong>of</strong> impunity. The only serious prosecutions led to<br />
unsatisfactory convictions <strong>of</strong> junior army <strong>of</strong>ficers as, for example, in the Krishanthi<br />
Kumaraswamy and the Embilipitiya schoolchildren cases. The past pattern <strong>of</strong> human<br />
rights violations recurred without effective inquiry or investigation. No commission<br />
was appointed to investigate the enforced disappearances that occurred in the mid-<br />
1990s in the Jaffna peninsula. The massacre <strong>of</strong> rehabilitation camp inmates at<br />
Bindunuwewa in late October 2000 did lead to a commission <strong>of</strong> inquiry but its<br />
findings had little impact on the legal process, which culminated in the wholesale<br />
acquittal <strong>of</strong> the accused (on appeal), including police <strong>of</strong>ficers whose conviction for<br />
culpable inaction had earlier been determined by the lower courts. The reports <strong>of</strong><br />
38 United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, Report <strong>of</strong> the Working<br />
Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (25-29 October 1999), E/CN.4/2000/64/Add.1,<br />
21.12.1999; presented to the UN <strong>Commission</strong> on Human Rights at its 56 th sessions, March-April 2000.<br />
39 see later analysis <strong>of</strong> prosecutions emanating from the findings <strong>of</strong> the 1994/1998 Disappearances<br />
<strong>Commission</strong>s.<br />
40 The Special Presidential <strong>Commission</strong>s <strong>of</strong> Inquiry are appointed in terms <strong>of</strong> the Special Presidential<br />
<strong>Commission</strong>s <strong>of</strong> Inquiry Law (SPCI Law) No. 7 <strong>of</strong> 1978 (as amended) (‘the SPCI Law’) which is<br />
different from the <strong>Commission</strong>s <strong>of</strong> Inquiry Act No. 17 <strong>of</strong> 1948 which is under examination in this<br />
report. The SPCI Law gives <strong>Commission</strong>s appointed under it authority to determine and report whether<br />
any person is guilty <strong>of</strong> any act <strong>of</strong> political victimisation, misuse or abuse <strong>of</strong> power, corruption or<br />
fraudulent act, in relation to any court or tribunal or any public body or in relation to the administration<br />
<strong>of</strong> any law or administration <strong>of</strong> justice and in those circumstances, to recommend whether such person<br />
should be made subject to civic disability (Section 9 (1)). That recommendation can result in the<br />
Parliament taking steps to impose civic disability or expel that person from Parliament if he is a MP<br />
(Article 81). The SPCI Law has been consistently and justly criticized as violating basic rules <strong>of</strong><br />
evidence and fair procedure, resulting in persons being subjected to kangaroo trials. A number <strong>of</strong> police<br />
<strong>of</strong>ficers who were interdicted and politicians who were arrested in consequence <strong>of</strong> the findings <strong>of</strong> these<br />
commissions were able to successfully challenge the interdictions and arrests in the Supreme Court on<br />
the basis inter alia, that the action taken was arbitrary and devoid <strong>of</strong> natural justice.<br />
41 Pinto-Jayawardena, Kishali, ‘Lalith Athulathmudali Assassination – A Report and its Discrediting,’<br />
Moot Point, Centre for Policy Alternatives, Legal Review, 1999, at p. 29.<br />
42 ibid, at p. 31. See also, Hoole, Rajan, op. cit, at p. 295.<br />
43 A charismatic actor cum politician and founder <strong>of</strong> an SLFP breakaway party, the SLMP, together<br />
with his wife and later President <strong>of</strong> Sri Lanka from 1994 to 2005, Chandrika Kumaratunge, daughter <strong>of</strong><br />
SWRD and Sirimavo Bandaranaike.<br />
27