Tuesday, 25 October 2011, 10:56

http://www.pm.gov.au/press-office/transcript-interview-geoff-hutchinson-abc-perth-0

TUE 25 OCTOBER 2011

Prime Minister

HOST: And what do you make of the fact that Melbourne lawyer Rob Stary is seeking to have action taken against the Sri Lankan President and have him face possible war crimes charges? This often cuts to the core of, when we talk about fundamental and shared values, it’s a statement everyone makes, but there are some very, very important issues at the heart of this, aren’t there?

PM: Yes, there are. On the direct question you raise, no such legal action can be taken on an issue like this without the consent of the Attorney-General, and the Attorney-General hasn’t received any request in relation to this matter, so that’s on the direct question you raise.

On the broader issue about human rights, Australia and like-minded countries have been urging and will continue to urge Sri Lanka to address the serious allegations that have been made of human rights violations during the end stages of the conflict in Sri Lanka, and we will continue to do that.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-25/mcclelland-sri-lanka-decision/3600104

No war crimes case against Sri Lanka leader

Updated October 25, 2011 19:30:48

Photo: The Attorney-General’s consent was needed for the case against Mahinda Rajapaksa to proceed. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds, file photo: Reuters)

Related Story: Sri Lankan president accused of war crimes

Related Story: Calls to suspend Sri Lanka from Commonwealth

Map: Sri Lanka

Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland has refused to allow a war crimes case against the Sri Lankan president to proceed in Australia.

Retired engineer Jegan Waran, 63, has filed charges in the Melbourne Magistrates Court against Mahinda Rajapaksa, claiming civilian targets were bombed in 2009 during Sri Lanka’s civil war.

The president has arrived in Perth for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

Mr McClelland’s consent is needed for such cases to proceed. His office issued a statement saying he would be in breach of international laws which provide immunity to heads of diplomatic missions if he allowed the case to go ahead.

"Those immunities include personal inviolability including from any form of arrest or detention and immunity from the criminal jurisdiction of the receiving state," a spokesman for Mr McClelland said.

Thousands of civilians were killed in the three-decades-long civil war which came to an end when Sri Lankan forces defeated Tamil rebels in 2009.

Claims that Sri Lankan armed forces deliberately attacked civilians are not new, but this is the first time charges have been brought by an Australian citizen in an Australian court.

In 2007, Mr Waran, a Tamil man, returned to Sri Lanka from Australia to offer what assistance he could, volunteering in Tamil hospitals, schools and displaced persons camps.

It was here he says he witnessed Sri Lankan military forces deliberately attacking clearly marked civilian infrastructure such as hospitals.

"Patients were killed and patients who were in the hospital were killed, and there were other patients waiting for treatment, they were killed," Mr Waran said.

"There was a medical store where they kept the medicines; those were destroyed, scattered all over the place, you can see.

"Ambulances were destroyed. So I have seen that personally."

Photo: A government soldier (R) watches civilians flee during the 2009 fighting (David Gray, file photo: Reuters)

Mr Waran says on Christmas Day 2008, drones circled another hospital before Sri Lankan air force planes attacked.

"The hospital, clearly a big Red Cross sign was marked on the roof, and drones usually take surveillance, so I’m very positive that they know where the hospital is and they know it will be damaged," he said.

This and other incidents have led him to issue summonses for three war crimes charges against Sri Lanka’s president.

He says he wants to bring these charges against Mr Rajapaksa "because I feel that he’s the commander-in-chief and nothing would have happened without his knowledge or his directions, and ultimately, he should be answerable to what was happening".

Sri Lanka’s government has repeatedly denied allegations of war crimes.

Last week, the International Commission of Jurists suggested Sri Lanka’s high commissioner to Australia, Thisara Samarasinghe, who led the navy in the north of the country, be investigated for war crimes.

The Australian Federal Police is examining the allegations.

"Such allegations are baseless and unsubstantiated. In the contrary, I have been commended for my role during the period of my career," Mr Samarasinghe said.

Video: Watch Lateline’s story on Jegan Waran(Lateline)

Topics:human, unrest-conflict-and-war, laws, international-law, sri-lanka, melbourne-3000

First posted October 25, 2011 19:03:03

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