Sri Lanka's president told an audience at the embassy in New York that his government is "always fully committed to safeguard the honour, dignity and respect of war heroes from the top generals to the last private soldier", as he continued to reject a hybrid accountability mechanism for crimes committed by Sri Lankan troops.
The official Sri Lankan President's Media Division cited Maithripala Sirisena as stating though "there were some incidents investigated during the war as well as after the conflict... they were not related to war and that cannot be described as hunting war heroes under any circumstance".
Sirisena added that his government had achieved "victories" such as "winning back the international support", as he was once more accompanied by Buddhist monks and a senior leader from the extremist Jathika Hela Urumaya party.
He went on to describe reports of crimes committed by Sri Lankan troops as "stray incidents" and said his speech at the UN General Assembly last week " ensured the safeguarding of honour and respect for war heroes".
Sirisena has repeatedly pledged to ensure Sri Lankan soldiers are not tried for war crimes and rejected terms of the UN resolution that his own government co-sponsored.