The NGO, Together Against Genocide (TAG, formerly Tamils Against Genocide) has welcomed the prosecution of Sri Lankan Army Staff Sergeant Sunil Rathnayake for the Mirusuvil Massacre, but has said that much more must be done to end impunity.

Rathnayake has been sentenced to death over the massacre of eight Tamil civilians, including two children, who were arrested by Sri Lankan security forces and subsequently murdered and buried in a mass grave in December 2000.

The drawn out timeline of the trials and the fact that only one out of fourteen soldiers originally implicated has been convicted reveals a failure of the Sri Lankan Judicial Authority, TAG said in a statement on Sunday. The organisation has demanded that Sri Lanka ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court; allow the ICC to investigate all instances of war crimes and violations of international law; and co-operate with the UN investigation human rights violations.

TAG also urged the international community to refer the incidences to the ICC; and to urge the Sri Lankan government to promote international justice and protect witnesses to atrocities.

“The Sri Lankan judicial authorities are clearly unwilling to proceed with criminal trials against the Sri Lankan Army,” the organisation highlighted, calling for efforts to trace command responsibility to higher levels of the army.

A suspect in the murder case of TNA MP Nadarajah Raviraj was released on bail earlier today.

Colombo Additional Magistrate Nirosha Fernando granted bail to Captain Samantha Munasinghe on a cash bail of Rs25,000 and a Rs500,000 surety bail.

Mr Munasinghe earlier this month filed a fundamental rights petition, alleging illegal detention by the CID.

Mr Raviraj was assassinated in Colombo in November 2006, at a time when the capital was heavily fortified by Sri Lanka's military. The government was accused of being behind the attacks by the TNA, diaspora organisations and the UNP. The US led international criticism of the government and urged it to conduct an investigation.

The Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) will contest the forthcoming general election as the Bodu Jana Peramuna (BJP), with BBS General Secretary Galagodaaththe Gnanasara the leader of the party.

Mr Gnanasara told the Daily Mirror its election symbol would be a cobra.

Journalists were forced out from a public consultative meeting about resettlement at the Jaffna District Secretariat on Monday.

Despite being invited to a public consultation with Sri Lankan minister for resettlement, D. M. Swaminathan, journalists were told to leave the meeting before discussion began, reportedly at the behest of the Government Agent.

Photograph @mayurappriyan

The TNA's Batticaloa MP P Ariyanenthiran said in parliament on Friday that the new government will not be able to convince the Tamil diaspora of its intentions unless it takes meaningful steps to address Tamil issues. 

He said the government should release Tamil political prisoners and find the disappeared before developing its contacts with the diaspora.

The Sri Lankan minister for resettlement, D. M. Swaminathan, has been criticised for failing to meet directly with displaced residents of Valikamam North, during a visit to the High Security Zone on Monday.

The minister visited the area with a research team including former members of parliament, to discern the needs of resettlers and to tour areas marked for release from the High Security Zone.

The United States Embassy in Sri Lanka said that Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has promised to address human rights issues on the island and looks forward to working with him to “support this cause”.

In a statement by embassy spokesperson Joshua Shen, in the wake of a US State Department report highlighting “major human rights problems” on the island, Mr Shen said the Sri Lankan president has “promised to address human rights issues, establish good governance and the rule of law”.

“We are looking forward to working with President Sirisena and this government to support this cause,” he said, adding “the United States continues to engage regularly with the Sri Lankan government and civil society representatives to address long standing issues related to reconciliation, democratic governance, justice and accountability”.

A Sri Lankan government commission into disappearances began holding more hearings in Trincomalee on Saturday.

The much criticised Sri Lankan Presidential Commission to Investigate Missing Persons will be hearing oral statements from those it has invited to attend the new sitting, in three days of sittings at the District Secretariat in the city.

The commission, which has been marred by claims of military intimidation of witnesses, has been criticised by the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), who labelled it “deceptive”. Highlighting Sri Lanka's historic failure of domestic inquiries, the Bishop of Mannar refused to testify before it and protests were held outside other hearings in the North-East.

The former president Mahinda Rajapaksa will contest the parliamentary elections in August as a prime ministerial candidate, former minister Kumara Welgama, who served under Mr Rajapaksa, said.

Mr Welgama said Mr Rajapaksa will contest under the UPFA's betel leaf symbol.

Foreign monitors will be invited to observe Sri Lanka's forthcoming parliamentary elections, People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) said.

Sri Lanka's president Maithripala Sirisena is seeking to increase the number of Sri Lankan military personnel who serve on internatioal peacekeeping missions.

Speaking at a military ceremony on Saturday, the president said discussions with the UN in this regard are ongoing.

A UN review recently called for a ban on countries to serve as peace keepers if their troops were involved in the sexual abuse of children.

Sri Lankan troops were expelled from Haiti for sexually abusing children in 2007, with 111 soldiers and 3 officers were repatriated back to Sri Lanka after being part of UN mission in Haiti and were accused of a string of sexual assaults, including rape of children as young as 7 years old. No prosecutions have yet taken place.

The governor of Sri Lanka's Central Bank, Arjuna Mahendran, is seeking concessional overseas loans to refinance some of the expensive debt the country has received and to reduce its reliance on global bond markets.

“We are looking at tens of billions of dollars” from lenders including the U.S., Japan and the European Union, Mr Mahendran said in a telephone interview with Bloomberg.

Concessional credit will “eventually refinance most of the commercial lending the country has contracted in the last five to seven years.”

“We are looking at hundreds of basis points of savings, which will be announced over the course of the coming year. Our debt-service profile on external debt will become much more benign within a year," Mr Mahendran further said.