A Sri Lanka Army officer, who fled to Canada, has revealed instances of Sri Lankan army abuse that occurred during Sri Lanka’s war against Tamils, reported the Canada's National Post.
Captain Ravindra Watundra Bandanage, left Sri Lanka in October 2009 and claimed asylum in Canada.
Bandanage indicated to Canadian immigration officials that he was aware of torture and other crimes carried out by Sri Lankan government forces against Tamils.
Speaking at a Canadian refugee hearing, Bandanage said that a colonel had ordered him to place explosives in the home of a member of parliament, who at the time was aligned with the Tamil National Alliance party.
Describing his time as an army officer involved in operations to round up ethnic Tamils, Bandanage confessed that he knew the army was torturing, beating and raping Tamil civilians.
“I admit that it is harassment of these people,” he said.
His appeal against a ruling in February, which said he was not eligible for asylum, was rejected.
“I think it’s very significant,” said John Argue, Amnesty International Canada’s co-ordinator for Sri Lanka.
“I hope it gets discussed publicly because then we get closer to what really happened in the last stages of the armed conflict and could have a serious discussion about accountability.”
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