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தமிழர்கள், பாலித கோகன்னாவுக்கு எதிராக வழக்குப் பதிவு

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  • கருத்துக்கள உறவுகள்

Australian could face court over Tamil Tigers deaths

AN AUSTRALIAN citizen and senior Sri Lankan diplomat has been accused of complicity in the murders of three surrendering Tamil Tigers in an application to the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands.

The man, Palitha Kohona, was the international face of the Sri Lankan government's war with separatist militants, the Tamil Tigers, and played an important role in the surrender of Tamil Tiger soldiers following their defeat in May 2009.

But reports of mass killings and the extrajudicial killing of surrendering Tigers have since surfaced. Dr Kohona and the Sri Lankan government strongly deny the claims, and so far the international community has been reluctant to investigate them.

Advertisement: Story continues below However, two international Tamil organisations have made a series of war crimes allegations to the International Criminal Court involving Dr Kohona and his role in the negotiated surrender of three Tamil Tigers who are believed to have been killed.

While Sri Lanka does not recognise the jurisdiction of the court, Dr Kohona's citizenship of Australia - a country which is a party to the court - means unlike other senior members of the Sri Lankan government, he can potentially be prosecuted.

That does not mean that a full investigation is likely, however, as only a very few of the requests for prosecutions each year are pursued by the court.

Dr Kohona became an Australian citizen in the 1980s while working in Canberra with the Foreign Affairs Department. He is now the Sri Lankan government's representative at the United Nations.

During the 2008-09 civil war which led to the defeat of the Tamil Tigers, Dr Kohona was secretary of the Sri Lankan foreign affairs ministry and played a role in negotiating the surrender of Tamil Tigers.

Among those who surrendered were three senior Tiger members, Mahindran Balasingham, Seeveratnam Pulidevan and a man known only as Ramesh.

On May 18, the day after the Tigers admitted defeat, the three men, along with at least a dozen others, negotiated a surrender with the Sri Lankan army. They waved a white flag when surrendering to show their intent.

Watched by hundreds of other Tamils, the group walked into an army-controlled area. Several minutes later shots and explosions were heard, witnesses said.

Balasingham and Pulidevan have not been seen since and Ramesh was seen at a hospital months later but subsequently disappeared. The Sri Lankan government has confirmed the death of two of the men.

The request, filed by the Swiss Council of Eelam Tamils and the US group Tamils Against Genocide, alleges Dr Kohona had been involved in the trio's surrender in the days before their death.

''On about May 17, 2009, in the evening or night, Palitha Kohona communicated … that the surrendering [Tamil Tigers] members would be safe if they surrendered with a white flag raised,'' the request claims.

A day later the three men surrendered. ''Some time after 8.15am [the trio] walked towards SLA lines with a white flag, along with 12-40 combatants and non-combatants … the SLA attacked by gunfire.''

A spokeswoman for the Home Affairs Minister, Brendan O'Connor, would not comment on the case except to say: ''Australia is a party to the Rome Statute and, as such, supports action by the court to prosecute crimes falling within its jurisdiction.''

Dr Kohona told the ABC yesterday the claims had no substance and were politically motivated.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/australian-could-face-court-over-tamil-tigers-deaths-20110221-1b2ld.html

Edited by கந்தப்பு

  • தொடங்கியவர்
  • கருத்துக்கள உறவுகள்

Push to investigate Australian citizen for war crimes

MARK COLVIN: The International Criminal Court in the Hague overnight received a submission to the Office of the Prosecutor to investigate an Australian citizen for war crimes.

The brief claims that during the last days of Sri Lanka's civil war the dual Sri Lankan-Australian citizen Dr Palitha Kohona was involved in the murder of three Tamil Tiger leaders who had already surrendered.

The US-based group Tamils Against Genocide has brought the case. They say there's no way to bring any potential Sri Lankan war criminals to justice in the International Criminal Court. Instead they're hoping Dr Kohona's Australian passport will allow a case to proceed.

Sarah Dingle reports.

SARAH DINGLE: Dr Palitha Kohona has an impressive CV. As an Australian foreign affairs official he's been posted to Geneva and was also a member of Australia's trade negotiating team in Uruguay.

As a Sri Lankan he was foreign affairs secretary during the last years of the civil war before being appointed Sri Lanka's ambassador to the United Nations.

Now a brief has been lodged with the International Criminal Court to investigate Dr Kohona for war crimes in Sri Lanka, specifically the deaths of three Tamil Tiger leaders who were shot after they came out from their bunker and tried to surrender in the morning of May the 18th 2009.

RAJEEV SREETHARAN: Palitha Kohona, he participated in communicating that if the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) members surrendered waving white flag they would be given prisoner of war status.

SARAH DINGLE: Rajeev Sreetharan is part of the US-based group Tamils Against Genocide who made the submission. He admits the case is not clear cut.

In the last days of the civil war the Sri Lankan army had boxed in tens of thousands of LTTE fighters and civilians into a small area in the country's north-east.

Increasingly desperate the three LTTE leaders known as Nadesan, Puleedevan and Ramesh made a series of phone calls to the Sri Lankan government via intermediaries saying they wanted a US and British backed surrender.

In 2009 Dr Kohona told PM that he was woken in the middle of the night about a surrender.

PALITHA KOHONA: And I told them that I was the wrong person, I had nothing to do with surrendering, and asked them to go and deal with the matter in the way it ought to be dealt with.

SARAH DINGLE: Rajeev Sreetharan's submission relies in part on the testimony of so-called Witness A, a Tamil in Europe who is in touch with the LTTE.

RAJEEV SREETHARAN: What we have is Witness A saying that Palitha Kohona was a link in this chain of communication that helped convey to the LTTE members the proper land route to surrender and that they should wave a white flag when they surrendered.

SARAH DINGLE: What would you say to criticism that because Witness A is in touch with LTTE members his information is compromised?

RAJEEV SREETHARAN: This is all the evidence that we have and that we're going to get if we are to actually investigate into whether or not this crime occurred because it's not going to be investigated in Sri Lanka.

ANDREW BYRNES: The International Criminal Court only has jurisdiction over alleged crimes that take place in a country which has accepted the jurisdiction of the court. Sri Lanka is not a party to the court but Australia of course has accepted the jurisdiction of the court.

Professor of international law at the University of New South Wales, Andrew Byrnes, says when it comes to international war crimes this submission will be one amongst many.

ANDREW BYRNES: As of the end of 2010 the prosecutor had had about nearly 9,000 communications of this sort. And I think only three of those have actually proceeded to full scale investigations.

SARAH DINGLE: PM contacted Dr Kohona for this story who responded:

STATEMENT FROM PALITHA KOHONA: I have no intention of dignifying this headline grabbing effort of an element of the rump LTTE, an organisation which remains proscribed in most democracies, by responding to this request for an interview by the ABC.

SARAH DINGLE: Tamils Against Genocide estimates between 12 and 40 non-combatants also tried to surrender with the three LTTE leaders. It has been reported that all but one were killed. Officially their fate is unknown.

MARK COLVIN: Sarah Dingle.

http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2011/s3144709.htm

  • கருத்துக்கள உறவுகள்

புலி ஆதரவாளர்களின் குற்றச்சாட்டுக்களுக்கு பதிலளிக்கப் போவதில்லை என்கிறார் கொஹணே

தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலி ஆதரவாளர்களின் குற்றச்சாட்டுக்களுக்கு பதிலளிக்கப் போவதில்லை என ஐக்கிய நாடுகளுக்கான இலங்கையின் வதிவிடப் பிரதிநிதி பாலித கொஹணே தெரிவித்துள்ளார்.

ஊடகங்களின் கவனத்தை ஈர்க்கும் நோக்கில் சில விடுதலைப் புலி ஆதரவாளர்கள் தம்மீது குற்றச்சாட்டுக்களை சுமத்தி வருவதாக அவர் சுட்டிக்காட்டியுள்ளார்.

ஹேக்கில் அமைந்துள்ள சர்வதேச குற்றவியல் நீதிமன்றில் தமக்கு எதிராக சுமத்தப்பட்டுள்ள குற்றச்சாட்டுக்கள் தொடர்பில் அவர் இந்தக் கருத்தை வெளியிட்டுள்ளார்.

அவுஸ்திரேலிய, இலங்கை இரட்டை குடியுரிமையுடைய டொக்டர் பாலித கொஹணே யுத்தக் குற்றச் செயல்களுடன் தொடர்புபட்டிருப்பதாகத் தெரிவித்து சர்வதே குற்றவியல் நீதிமன்றில் முறைப்பாடு செய்யப்பட்டுள்ளது.

யுத்தத்தின் போது சரணடைந்த மூன்று முக்கிய விடுதலைப் புலி உறுப்பினர்கள் படுகொலை செய்யப்பட்ட சம்பவத்துடன் பாலித கொஹணேவிற்கு தொடர்பு இருப்பதாக குற்றம் சுமத்தப்பட்டுள்ளது.

அவுஸ்திரேலிய ஒலிபரப்புக் கூட்டுத்தாபனத்திற்கு அளித்த செவ்வியின் போது அவர் இதனைக் குறிப்பிட்டுள்ளார்.

http://globaltamilnews.net/GTMNEditorial/tabid/71/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/58247/language/ta-IN/article.aspx

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