[AFP]

Sri Lanka’s president Mahinda Rajapakse has cited constitutional immunity and refused to go before a US court where he is being sued for $30 million over the killing of a Tamil man, an official said Sunday.

A US-based Tamil lobby had filed the case claiming damages from him as commander-in-chief of the Sri Lankan armed forces for the alleged killing of Raghiar Manoharan, a member of the island’s ethnic Tamil minority.

[Full Story]

[BBC]

A renegade former commander of Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels has been jailed for identity fraud in the UK. The BBC’s Jill McGivering watched Col Karuna’s sentencing and asked human rights groups for their reaction. Isleworth Crown Court is an unimpressive modern building, set midway down a leafy residential street in suburban London. But on Friday, court number three was attracting an unusual amount of media attention. Outside, passers-by were stopping to ask questions about the unfamiliar sight of a TV camera crew. Inside, the two rows of government seats that constitute the public gallery in the court were full.

[Full Story]