Fonseka may face legal action over war crimes claim

An angry Sri Lankan government on Wednesday lashed out at former army commander and the opposition’s presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka for bringing back “international focus’’ on alleged war crimes committed during the last phase of war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

An angry Sri Lankan government on Wednesday lashed out at former army commander and the opposition’s presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka for bringing back “international focus’’ on alleged war crimes committed during the last phase of war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

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“We are looking into taking some sort of legal action against general Fonseka in line with the constitution and the laws of the country,” Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe told reporters.

The Minister said Fonseka had unnecessarily brought back focus on the war crimes’ issue, which the government thought had been dealt with after the UN Human Rights Council wound up its special session on Sri Lanka in late May by adopting a resolution acknowledging the commitment of the Sri Lankan government to provide access to humanitarian agencies “as appropriate”.

As many as 29 countries including India and China voted in favour of Sri Lanka. However, 12 countries, including the EU, Mexico, Japan and Chile, voted against the resolution, while 6 countries had abstained.