The inclusion of exiled victims and witnesses in Sri Lanka’s consultation for an accountability mechanism will be a litmus test of its credibility, writes former BBC correspondent Frances Harrison.

Writing in the Huffington Post, Ms Harrison noted that “the extent of organised sexual violence and torture by the Sri Lankan security forces in the post-war period and right up to the present day and the chilling way every medical facility was deliberately attacked is now a matter of record,” with the release of the OISL report.

“The fact the Sri Lankan security services this week went to question the only Tamil activist who spoke in public in Geneva appears to be an attempt to embarrass the government,” she added. “This sort of harassment causes disproportionate bad feeling and suspicion, especially when the target is a highly respected Catholic priest who works tirelessly with the families of the Disappeared.”

The European Union(EU) called for the abolition of the death penalty worldwide and welcomed Sri Lankan Justice Minister’s announcement that his government would vote in favour of the UN General Assembly resolution on a moratorium on the Death Penalty.

The EU statement comes as Sri Lanka’s parliament debated the reinstatement of capital punishment and as the government prepares to interview for a new hangman next week.

Sri Lanka’s Minister of Justice Wijeyadasa Rajapaksha said this week that the Foreign Minister told the UN Human Rights Council last month that Sri Lanka would not implement capital punishment. Mr Rajapaksha, who is also minister of the Buddha Sasana, said that the matter had to be considered carefully, and would not be implemented this year as Sri Lanka voted in favour of a UN resolution for a moratorium on the death penalty.

“The death penalty is a cruel and ineffective punishment,” said the EU. “Many death sentences are issued after confessions obtained by torture. Innocent people die and a person more likely to be sentenced to death if they are poor or belong to an ethnic or religious minority.”

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), headed by President Maithripala Sirisena, said that there would be no room for an international or hybrid mechanism for Sri Lanka’s investigations into war time atrocities.

Speaking at a party meeting, the SLFP Vice Chairman and Social Empowerment and Welfare Minister SB Dissanayake said that the government would never allow foreign judges work on a accountability mechanism, reports dailyFT.lk.

A group of four Sri Lankan soldiers have been sentenced to 25 years in jail for the gang rape of a Tamil woman that took place in 2010.

The Jaffna High Court found the men from Sri Lanka’s 572 Brigade guilty of raping the 27-year old Tamil mother of two, in Kilinochchi in 2010.

The case is the first on the island of a Tamil rape victim identifying the perpetrators in court, and comes despite reports of repeated military intimidation. Whilst three of the soldeirs appeared in court, the fourth suspect had earlier absconded and remains at large.