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The Attorney General’s decision to recommence investigations into the killing of five Tamil students – known as the ‘Trinco 5’, allegedly committed by the Sri Lankan security forces in Trincomalee on January 2, 2006, was welcomed by Amnesty International (AI).

However, Amnesty International has noted that reforms are required if the investigations are to be effective.

The decision follows the acquittal of 13 Special Task Force (STF) suspects earlier this month, reportedly due to a “lack of evidence”.

“Amnesty International welcomes the decision of the Attorney General of Sri Lanka to recommence investigations into the killing of five Tamil students – known as the ‘Trinco 5’ – allegedly by the Sri Lankan security forces in Trincomalee on 2 January 2006. However, reforms are required if the investigations are to be effective. The decision follows the acquittal of 13 Special Task Force (STF) suspects earlier this month, reportedly due to a “lack of evidence,” Amnesty International states.

Issuing a statement, Amnesty International noted the importance of a thorough, effective and impartial investigation into the killing to ensure that victims of human rights violations and abuses can access justice.

“The Government of Sri Lanka has an obligation under international law to deliver justice to the victims of the killings – either through the domestic court system, or through a judicial mechanism with a special counsel to investigate allegations of violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, which the government proposed to establish in UN Human Rights Council resolution 30/1 (2015),” Amnesty International states.

Amnesty International has also called on the Government of Sri Lanka to strengthen witness protection and mutual legal assistance from countries where witnesses and victims may now reside, in order to effectively investigate the killings and pursue accountability for the ‘Trinco 5’.

A journalist who took photographs of the bodies, Subramaniyam Sugirdharajan, was killed a few weeks later.

Dr. K Manoharan, whose son Ragihar was one of the victims was forced to flee the country after receiving death threats and continues to voice fears of reprisals against those who give evidence in the case.

The families of the other victims, including two youths who survived the attack were also forced to flee Sri Lanka.

“In particular, in light of the legitimate security concerns of witnesses and victims to the case, the government of Sri Lanka should amend the Assistance to and Protection of Victims of Crime and Witnesses Act of 2015 to further facilitate the participation of witnesses and victims outside of Sri Lanka. Such reform should seek to amend the law beyond the facilitation of recording evidence or statements remotely from a Sri Lankan diplomatic mission in the country from where a victim of crime or witness seeks to testify or make the statement,” Amnesty International notes.

Cambodia and Sri Lanka yesterday expanded cooperation in the sectors of education, culture, tourism, commerce and civil aviation.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena and his delegation are in the Kingdom for an official state visit.

President Sirisena made a courtesy call on King Norodom Sihamoni in the morning before meeting Prime Minister Hun Sen at the Peace Palace in the afternoon where both leaders witnessed the signing of two agreements on political consultation and cooperation.

Eang Sophalleth, Mr Hun Sen’s assistant, told reporters after the meeting that two Memoranda of Understanding were signed by respective Foreign Affairs Ministries and Chambers of Commerce.

Sophalleth said aside from witnessing the signing of the two MoUs, Hun Sen and Sirisena covered a wide range of issues, including the bomb attacks that occurred in Sri Lanka in April, in which Hun Sen expressed his condolences for 300 lives lost.

“The president told Samdech Hun Sen that the purpose of his visit to the Kingdom is to strengthen relationship and expand cooperation between both countries in the sectors of education, culture, tourism, commerce and civil aviation,” he said. “He [Sirisena] urged for a direct flight between Cambodia and Sri Lanka.”

Sophalleth said Hun Sen said both sides should first implement the MoU on Political Consultation as soon as possible.

“Samdech Hun Sen said the trade volume between both countries is too small, so both countries must consider pushing for a higher trade volume,” he said. “This also applies to cooperation in tourism, religion and education.”

Sophalleth said Hun Sen expressed gratitude to the Sri Lankan government for training Cambodian officials and Buddhist monks. He noted that Hun Sen said Sri Lanka is also participating in the maintenance of regional peace.

According to a press release issued by the Sri Lankan government, King Sihamoni thanked Sirisena for coming to the Kingdom.

“Cambodia stands firmly together with Sri Lanka in further cementing bilateral relations in trade, social issues, as well as Buddhism,” it said.

“His Majesty commended the progress achieved by Sri Lanka under the leadership of President Sirisena in the economic, trade, social and religious fields,” it said. “The King also extended his gratitude for the assistance given by Sri Lanka to Cambodia in the education sector, including [for] scholarships to Cambodian monks.”

Former President and incumbent Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa says that he distanced himself from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) since the party formed a government with the United National Party (UNP).

Rajapaksa has made this statement during a meeting with a group of SLFP members from local government bodies in the Kandy District held at his official residence yesterday (9).

However, he has further noted that there were no barriers for him to work with the SLFP now since the party was no longer in government with the UNP.

He has assured that he would not to allow any injustice to be inflicted on the SLFP parliamentarians.

According to Rajapaksa, the wish of every progressive force in the country was to defeat the UNP and everyone should joint for that purpose.

The meeting between Rajapaksa and the SLFPers was focused on the current political situation and the formation of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP).

Rajapaksa has said that the SLFP and SLPP could work together towards achieving its common goals.

Meanwhile, another group of SLFP members from the Batticaloa District had also met with Rajapaksa yesterday.

Questions have now risen over the parliamentary seat of former President and incumbent Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa once he formally assumes the role of Leader of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) on Sunday (11) at its convention to be held at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium.

Rajapaksa obtained his parliamentary seat as a member of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), which contested under the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA), at the last general election. Therefore, Rajapaksa is likely to lose his parliamentary seat when he assumes the SLPP leadership.

The SLFP constitution states that a member of the party cannot become a member or hold office in any other political party. If a member engages in such action, he/she is sacked from the party.

When Rajapaksa assumes the SLPP leadership, he ceases to be a member of the SLFP, thereby legally loses his parliamentary seat.

However, SLPP National Organiser, Basil Rajapaksa says that Rajapaksa losing his parliamentary seat after officially assuming the role of SLPP leader would not be an issue for the SLPP’s political path.

According to Basil, even if such a development takes place, it would not hinder the political journey of the former President.

“He has been President, he has been the Prime Minister, the Opposition Leader and he has held various Ministerial portfolios. Losing his Parliamentary membership will not be an issue. It will not hinder his or our journey in any way,” Basil told the media.

Basil has made this observation in response to a question posed by the media on the possibility of Rajapaksa losing his parliamentary seat obtained as a member of the SLFP.

“We will be announcing our new Party leader at our Party convention. It will be former President and current Opposition leader Mahinda Rajapaksa,” Basil said.

Also, after assuming the SLPP leadership, Rajapaksa is scheduled to announce the party’s presidential candidate at Sunday’s convention.

The presidential candidacy is tipped to be given to Rajapaksa sibling, former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

Mahinda to the rescue

There was pressure from senior SLFP members last year to sack Rajapaksa from the party and take over his parliamentary seat when he assumed the role of de facto leader of the SLPP last year.

Many UPFA MPs represented in the ‘joint opposition’ in parliament also took over membership of the SLPP and posted photographs of accepting membership cards on their social media pages.

However, President Maithripala Sirisena intervened at the time and requested UPFA General Secretary, MP Mahinda Amaraweera to declare that Rajapaksa and his loyalists were still members of the SLFP.

Three petitions filed before the Supreme Court in favour of the Private Member’s Bill submitted in Parliament seeking the abolition of the death penalty was dismissed by Court yesterday (9).

A three-judge bench consisting of Supreme Court Justices L.T.B. Dehideniya, Murdu Fernando and Gamini Amarasekara delivered the dismissal order.

The Attorney General was cited as responded in the petitions filed by Prof. C. Gunaratne from Nugegoda and two other parties.

When the petitions were taken up before the Supreme Court, State Counsel appearing on behalf of the Attorney General has informed court that Parliament has already sought the Attorney General’s advice on the Bill in question.

The State Counsel has further stated that the judiciary has no jurisdiction to conduct a hearing on this parliamentary proceeding.

After considering the submissions by the State Counsel, the Supreme Court judge bench has ordered to dismiss the three petitions.

The petitioners have noted that provisions of the proposal submitted to parliament does not violate the Constitution and have therefore requested the Supreme Court to deliver an order stating that the proposal can be passed with a simple majority in the Parliament.

Indictment was served yesterday (8) by the Attorney General (AG) before the Colombo High Court against former Monitoring MP of the External Affairs Ministry during the Rajapaksa regime, Sajin de Vass Gunawardena, over money laundering charges.

Gunawardena has been indicted on the charge of laundering money amounting to over Rs 306.26 million, under Section 3 [1] [a] of Money Laundering Act No 05 of 2006 as amended by Act No 40 of 2011.

The Attorney General’s Coordinating Officer has stated that the indictment was served following an investigation conducted by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) on a complaint received on February 2, 2015.

The CID investigation had revealed that Gunawardena had owned a group of companies under the name of ‘COSMOS’ which had 21 companies at the time he handed nominations to contest the general election in 2010.

Though he had resigned as a director of all those companies and transferred his shares to his wife before he became a Member Parliament, evidence had revealed that he was effectively running the full operation of those companies even after he became a parliamentarian.

The CID investigation had revealed that Gunawardena was engaged in suspicious transactions using seven out of the 21 companies.

He had allegedly deposited over Rs 458.73 million in this manner in the accounts of those companies. The CID had found through evidence that Gunawardena had brought monies in cash and asked to deposit the same in an account of a company named by him and the bank details of the accounts maintained in the name of those companies have reflected these deposits.

Gunawardena had also withdrawn cash from those same companies though he had no legal bearing to do so following his resignation as director/owner of those companies.

Investigators have also found that neither Gunawardena nor his wife in their own admission have such a known income comparable to the vast sums of money he had deposited in those companies.

United National Party (UNP) Deputy Leader, Minister Sajith Premadasa says the party should form an alliance only after announcing its presidential candidate.

Issuing a statement, Premadasa has stated that certain newspapers had reported that both he and the Prime Minister had agreed that a UNP-led Democratic National Front (DNF) alliance should be formed as soon as possible.

However, Premadasa says that while he agrees with the forming of such an alliance, it should be done according to the stance of a majority of the UNP MPs as well as other parties who have expressed willingness to join the alliance. They all claim that the alliance should be formed after naming the presidential candidate.

According to the UNP Deputy Leader, he is also of the same opinion.

Premadasa has further noted that doing so would not only help form the proposed alliance, but it would also no doubt lead to numerous other parties and individuals joining it to make it a victorious alliance.

He has added that what should happen today is not the spreading of false news through the media, but the naming of the presidential candidate and then the drafting of the agreement for the proposed new alliance.

National Organiser of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), Basil Rajapaksa says former Defence Secretary and presidential hopeful Gotabhaya Rajapaksa will not be an authoritarian ruler if elected to power.

Basil in fact notes that his brother, Gotabhaya will respect democracy.

Basil gave this assurance during a news briefing held at the SLPP head office in Battaramulla yesterday (8).

He also said that the SLPP’s presidential candidate will be announced on Sunday (11) at the party convention and that the leader of the SLPP will also be formally picked at the event.

Former President, incumbent Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa is expected to be formally declared as the SLPP leader while Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is tipped to be the party’s presidential candidate.

According to Basil, the SLPP’s presidential candidate will be a person who has the full support of the public.

He has added that Gotabhaya is among a few others who meet the expectations of the SLPP and the public to be their presidential candidate.

The Permanent High Court Trial at Bar today (9) issued a warrant for the arrest of the first accused in the case filed over the Central Bank treasury bond scam, former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran.

The case filed by the Attorney General was taken up in the presence of Justices Sampath Abeykoon, Sampath Wijeratne, and Champa Janaki Rajaratne.

Court ordered for the summons to be sent to the 10th accused Ajahn Gardiya Punchihewa to be handed over to court on the 04th of December and further ordered for the report on the warrant against Mahendran be produced in court on that day as well.

To celebrate 73rd Independence Day of India the High Commission of India is organizing a special cultural event “Strings of Harmony”- a musical Jugalbandi featuring legendary Santoor maestro Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma and his son Pandit Rahul Sharma on Thursday August 15 at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Convention Hall at 6.45 p.m.

Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, the legendary maestro of Santoor,( the 100 stringed unique folk instrument from the valley of Kashmir), has created a new genre of instrumental music with his creative genius through his performance career of over half a century.He has been bestowed with a long list of National and International awards including Padma Vibhushan, the highest civilian award from Govt. of India.

His compositions for blockbuster Bollywood films like Silsila, Chandni, Lamhe, Darr etc. are all time favorites across the globe. Trained by his father Pt. Rahul Sharma has carved a niche for himself in the world of Indian classical and Fusion world music. With over 60 released albums spanning over a career of 20 years Rahul has experimented various genres from classical to folk to new age and world fusion. Rahul has released one of India’sbestselling albums called NAMASTE INDIA with world renowned Saxophonist KENNY.G, featuring the voice of India's leading actor Amitabh Bachchan. They will be accompanied by eminent musiciansfrom India such as Barkha Rahul Sharma(tanpura), Yogesh Samsi(Tabla), Bhawani Shankar(Pakhawaj), and Takahiro Arai(tanpura).

The event is being organized in collaboration with Ministry of Housing, Construction and Cultural Affairs, Govt of Sri Lanka, ITC Hotels, Taj Samudra and BMICH.

Admission to the event is free and by invitation only. Limited passes will be available at Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre(Indian Cultural Centre) from 5thAugust onwards. For further details, contact the Indian Cultural Centre at 2684698/This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The Committee that was appointed by President Maithripala Sirisena to inquire and report on the Easter Sunday attacks is to be called before the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) probing the April 21st attack.

Soon after the Easter Sunday attacks, the President appointed a three members committee headed by Supreme Court Justice Vijith Malalgoda and including former Inspector General of Police N. K. Ilangakoon and former Ministry Secretary Padmasiri Jayamanne to inquire and report on the attacks.

These three members of the Presidential committee are to be called before the PSC on Tuesday (20).

All three members of the committee are expected to testify jointly before the PSC.

Minister of Foreign Employment and Sports and the United National Party (UNP) electoral organizer for the Badulla District Harin Fernando has organized a massive public rally in Badulla on Monday (12) to announce the candidacy of UNP Deputy Leader, Minister Sajith Premadasa at the forthcoming presidential election.

The Rajapaksa led Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) is scheduled to announce its presidential candidate – Gotabhaya Rajapaksa – at the party’s convention on Sunday (11). The public rally to announce Premadasa’s candidacy has been organized in Badulla on the day after, Monday (12).

A large number of UNP ministers and parliamentarians are scheduled to attend Premadasa’s public rally in Badulla.

It was Harin Fernando, who fired the first salvo against the 10 year Rajapaksa regime, by defeating the then governing party at the Uva Provincial Council elections. It was the Uva Provincial Council victory recorded by the UNP in 2014 that gave the confidence to progressive forces in the country to eventually rally together to defeat the Rajapaksa regime that had a stronghold on the country since 2005.