[Radio Netherlands Worldwide]

First a damning UN report accused both sides in the country’s 30-year civil war of atrocities – a claim the current government refutes categorically. Then in June British TV station Channel 4 broadcast a devastating account of the closing weeks of the conflict in 2009. At this time, the programme said, the Sri Lankan military systematically murdered thousands of civilians. Colombo says the evidence is ‘fabricated’. Distinguishing truth from artifice is problematic in a country where the free press claims it is under constant threat. RNW sent a team to Sri Lanka to investigate.

[Full Story]

[ HRW ]

The TMVP was originally the political wing of the armed faction earlier known as the Karuna group. It enjoys the strong backing of the government of President Mahinda Rajapakse. “The Sri Lankan government says that the ‘liberated’ East is an example of democracy in action and a model for areas recaptured from the LTTE,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “But killings and abductions are rife, and there is total impunity for horrific abuses.” “Many in the East believe that the government has given its blessing for these abuses,” said Adams. “It is important for the government to take action against perpetrators to demonstrate that this is not the case.”

[Full Story]

[AP]

Nearly 18 months after Sri Lanka launched an independent investigation into a wave of civilian killings during its renewed civil war, not a single case has been resolved, and some human rights groups and lawyers fear no one will ever be held accountable.

A credible probe into the incidents, including the slaying of 17 aid workers blamed on security forces, will test the government’s will to pursue potentially embarrassing cases and strengthen its efforts to prevent the dispatch of a U.N. human rights monitoring mission.

[Full Story]