Chandrika Kumaratunga evicted from Colombo state residence

Former Sri Lankan president and accused war criminal Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga has begun moving out of her official residence on Independence Avenue, Colombo, following the government’s decision to strip former heads of state of their long-held privileges.

Her departure comes after parliament passed legislation earlier this year revoking the state-funded benefits enjoyed by former presidents, including lifetime residences, staff, vehicles, and security allowances. The move was part of a wider cost-cutting initiative by the National People’s Power (NPP) regime, which has pledged to reduce the financial burden of maintaining former leaders.

Kumaratunga, who served as president from 1994 to 2005 and directed massacres of Tamils, was initially granted an extension to remain at the residence until 30 November due to ill health. Her office confirmed that the process of vacating the premises began this week and is expected to be completed within the next few days.

Earlier this month, the NPP government announced that it would also review other entitlements afforded to former presidents, including pensions and security provisions.
 

A record of atrocities

During her tenure as Sri Lanka’s president from 1994 to 2005, Kumaratunga over several mass atrocities and torpedoed efforts at brokering a peace agreement.

 These massacres include the 1995 Navaly Church bombing, the 1995 Nagerkovil school massacre, the 1996 Kumarapuram massacre, the 1998 Thampalakamam massacre, and the 1999 Puthukkudiyituppu massacre.

These massacres saw the indiscriminate killing of Tamil civilians and the use of cluster bombs on churches.

In 2015, she told an audience, "I have not done anything wrong… I don’t have blood on our hands”. Earlier that year, she had boasted of having won “75%” of the war during her tenure by going to war with the LTTE. And despite her tenure in office marred by the bombing of churches, schools and the massive military invasion of Jaffna, killing countless Tamil civilians.

Kumaratunga has repeatedly denied the need for an independent international investigation into war crimes. In 2017, she told a gathering in Jaffna, “We have no intention to drag the soldiers before courts and send them to gallows”.

In 2018 she was awarded France’s highest national honour,  the Medal of “Commandeur de la Légion D’Honneur”.