Former Sri Lankan president, Maithripala Sirisena, has denounced the UK’s recent imposition of sanctions on three Sri Lankan military officials for war crimes, describing it as “unfair” treatment of Sri Lanka’s “war heroes”.
Earlier this week, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) announced the decision to impose sanctions on three former Sri Lankan military officials and a Tamil paramilitary leader.
They are:
• Shavendra Silva, former Head of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces;
• Wasantha Karannagoda, former Navy Commander;
• Jagath Jayasuriya, former Army Commander; and
• Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, also known as Karuna Amman, former commander of the pro-government Karuna Group
Speaking to the Sri Lankan media on Tuesday, Sirisena claimed to know what actually happened during the final two weeks of the Mullivaikkal genocide because he served as acting defence minister on five occasions during the armed conflict.
“I want to make it clear that I was present during the war. I served as the acting defence minister five times,” he said.
“Without fear, I can clearly say I was the acting defence minister when Prabhakaran died and I know what actually happened in the final two weeks. What has happened to our tri- force officers is unfair. They are a group of people who dedicated their lives to the country, our soldiers, our warriors, how much they have sacrificed their lives.”
Sirisena continued his remarks by referencing the assassinations of Alfred Thangarajah Duriappah, the Mayor of Jaffna, in 1976, and Appapillai Amirthalingam, former Leader of the Opposition, in 1989, claiming them to be a part of “big stories” that cannot be clearly spoken about, and propagated by people that “we all know” to be behind this.
He expressed his opposition towards the UK’s impose travels bans and asset freezes of the three former military commanders by calling it a “conspiracy” to prevent the country from prospering.
“In 1976, the first person the LTTE killed was Alfred Duriappah, Why did they kill him? Why did the LTTE kill Amirthalingham- the Opposition Leader? Why was he killed? These are very big stories and we all know the people behind this.”
“These are not stories that you can clearly speak about. I can clearly speak about this because I was the acting defence minister. I am especially very sad that the people who saved our country, our heroes, are being treated unfairly by the international community. This is all a part of a conspiracy done so that the country will not prosper. The whole nation should wake up, they should speak about it and show their objections to these decisions [sanctions] taken.”
The former president admitted to knowing the three sanctioned military officials - Silva, Jayasuriya and Karannagoda - on a personal level for a long time. He praised them for leading military operation during the armed conflict and stated that without their efforts, “Colombo and Polonnaruwa would not exist today if [they] had not won the war”.
He concluded his statement by urging the country to object to these sanctions and called on the government to advocate for the revocation of these decision.
Sirisena succeeded former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa in January 2015, and served as president until 2019. Early on his presidency, he announced plans he announced plans to set up domestic inquiry to investigate war crimes committed during the armed conflict. His government even co-sponsored a UN resolution that mandated a hybrid court with an international component, to be set up. However, he failed to deliver on his promise and his administration was accused of obfuscating on the matter as no military official ever stood trial. Instead, he established a long track record of denying war crime accusations and defending accused military officials.
In 2017, Sirisena vowed to protect former army commander, Jagath Jayasuriya, following lawsuits filed by human rights groups in Colombia and Brazil, where Jayasuriya previously served as Sri Lankan Ambassador, accusing him of committing war crimes in Sri Lanka. The lawsuit included details of Jayasuriya overseeing torture camps and being responsible for extrajudicial killings and torture in the final stages of the civil war.
Sirisena stated, “I state clearly that I will not allow anyone in the world to touch Jagath Jayasuriya or any other military chief or any war hero in this country”.
In 2019, Sirisena appointed Shavendra Silva as Chief of Staff of the Sri Lankan army, the country’s second highest army ranking. The decision was made despite international condemnation against Silva due to accusations of war crime atrocities.
A report commissioned by the United Nations named Silva as the commander of the 58th Division of the Sri Lankan army that was responsible for continuous deliberate attacks on hospitals and displacement camps in 2009, which caused the death of tems of thousands of Tamil civilians.
