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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Paranagama Commission Report in Full

The Full report is here as a PDF.Paranaggama Commission report

Here is what the report mention as possible war crimes:

It is clear to the Commission that this doctrine may be engaged as it concerns the allegations relating to the ‘white flag killings’ of LTTE leaders and the images of executions that have formed the subject matter of a series of Channel 4 television broadcasts. The Commission is of the view, as found by the LLRC, that there are matters to be investigated in terms of specific instances of deliberate attacks on civilians. These matters must be the subject of an independent judicial inquiry. There are credible allegations, which if proved to the required standard, may show that some members of the armed forces committed acts during the final phase of the war that amounted to war crimes giving rise to individual criminal responsibility. These include such incidents as:

  • The allegations of ‘white flag killings’ which led to the deaths of Balasingham Nadesan, the head of the political wing of the LTTE, and Seevaratnam Pulidevan, the LTTE’s head of the peace secretariat and others who surrendered, having allegedly been given assurances at a high level. The Commission is of the view that despite some conflicting evidence, the underlying matrix is such that these alleged illegal killings, together with other such killings of those who surrendered, must be the subject of an independent judge-led investigation. To that list for investigation, must be added the cases of all those who were hors de combat and allegedly perished while in the custody of the SLA.
  • The alleged executions of individuals named in the various Channel 4 documentaries.
  • The disappearance of busloads of persons who surrendered in the last days of the conflict. One such busload was accompanied by a Catholic Priest, Father Francis.
  •  The credible evidence that hospitals, both makeshift and otherwise, were damaged by shellfire with civilian casualties to the point that this Commission is of the view that, bearing in mind the special protected status accorded to hospitals, there must be a judge-led inquiry into the circumstances attaching to each individual case. However, the Commission has to balance these allegations against the strong supporting evidence of the propensity of the LTTE to place weaponry and indeed even a tank in close proximity to hospitals as confirmed by the Darusman Report.

The Commission notes and believes it should underline the fact that the former Commander of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces, now Field Marshall Sarath Fonseka as recently as May 2015, has himself, welcomed the need for a war crimes investigation into a number of incidents. In an interview recorded in the London Guardian newspaper on 27th May 2015, Fonseka maintained his innocence while being cited as ‘accepting that some crimes occurred during the war,’ albeit maintaining that such actions were done by individuals rather than as part of any widespread policy by the SLA.

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