Sri Lanka's Criminal Investigations Department on Monday told a court that the former president's brother and former defence minister, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa ran a 'top secret death squad', Al Jazeera reported. 

The death squad was responsible for the assassinations of political opponents and journalists, including the former Sunday Leader editor, Lasantha Wickremetunge. 

Excerpts of a report compiled by the CID was read out in court: 

Impunity Reigns in Sri Lanka, a new report released by People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL), examines the failure of successive Sri Lankan governments to service justice for the massacre of Tamil civilians in Kumarapuram which took place over 20 years ago.

The report details findings based on, “interviews with victim survivors from Kumarapuram and the lawyers who represented/assisted them; and interviews with a broad cross-section of human rights lawyers in Sri Lanka.”

The Mayor of Toronto paid tribute in Mullaitivu to the thousands of Tamils massacred by the Sri Lankan state in the final stages of the war in 2009.

China's minister of defence Chang Wanquan left the country on Sunday to embark on a visit of Sri Lanka and Nepal, Reuters reported. 

Details of his trips are unavailable. The deputy naval chief, Su Zhiqian is to be part of the offical delegation. 
 

Sri Lanka will carefully study the recommendations made by the UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, Rita Izsák-Ndiaye, made in her report which follows her visit to Sri Lanka late last year. 

"We believe the visit was timely as the Government and the people of Sri Lanka have embarked on a historic journey to achieve durable peace, reconciliation and development," the ambassador, Ravinatha Aryasinha said. 

Sri Lanka's foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera reportedly criticised a Sri Lankan Major General publishing a book which details the extensive war crimes of the army, calling it the "biggest betrayal to the war heroes". 

Stephen Rapp, former United States Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues in the Office of Global Criminal Justice, called for a clear "time frame and benchmarks" for Sri Lanka to implement its "commitments to accountability" in a press release issued this week.

Jegath Jayasuriya, a former Sri Lankan army commander and the government's current Ambassador to Brazil, is alleged to be complicit in the torture that took place at the Joseph Camp in Vavuniya between August 2007 and mid-July 2009, according to a report released by the International Truth and Justice Project (ITPJ).

The report, launched this week, describes the many incidents of torture at the Joseph Camp – formally known as Vanni Security Force Headquarters.  

The Northern Provincial Council (NPC) passed a resolution this week, stating that Sri Lanka had “not taken any meaningful steps for a credible justice process and an accountability mechanism that it had accepted, promised and committed to”.

Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said the island’s constitution does not allow foreign judges to participate in any accountability mechanisms, a key aspect of a 2015 resolution that Colombo co-sponsored.

A draft resolution calling on Sri Lanka to “implement fully” a previously co-sponsored UN resolution from 2015 has been tabled at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva this week, granting the government an extended period of a further two years to do so if passed.

The Sri Lankan government once again reiterated its rejection to the participation of foreign judges in any accountability mechanism for human rights abuses on the island, dismissing a key aspect of a UN resolution.

Sri Lanka’s Deputy Minister of Power and Energy, Ajith Perera, told reporters at the weekly cabinet meeting that both President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe were staunchly against the involvement of international judges.

The Sri Lankan government must immediately address demilitarisation, disappeared persons, land return and political prisoners as the most pressing issues for Tamils and Muslims, the UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues told the Human Rights Council on Wednesday.