Sri Lanka to begin own probe on war crime allegations soon
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- Sri Lanka
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- Govt. Sri Lanka
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Sri Lanka will soon begin a probe on alleged war crime violations parallel to the investigations conducted by the to Investigate Into Complaints Regarding Missing Persons.
According to a report by Lankapuvath, the inquiries will go hand in hand with the investigations being conducted by the Presidential Commission on missing people.
Maxwell Paranagama, the Chairman of the Presidential Commission probing the missing persons inquiries has told media that probe on the war conducted by them will begin soon parallel to the public hearings of the Commission.
Paranagama has said that the Commission is making preparations to commence inquiries under the new mandate it was given.
He has also said that there has been a proposal to conduct its next public sitting in the Kilinochchi district next month but a final decision is yet to be taken on when to conduct the public sitting in Kilinochchi again.
The Commission held Public sittings in the Kilinochchi District from 18th – 21st January this year and recorded evidence from 150 witnesses in connection with the 154 complaints scheduled for interviews. In addition, the presidential commission has received 380 more complaints from the district.
The Commission expects to review the newly received complaints during the sittings next month and public statements will be recorded during this period.
Since the Establishment of the Commission on 15th August 2013, the Commission up to date has received in excess of 19,471 complaints inclusive of approximately 5000 complaints from relatives of missing security forces personnel.
Establishment of the Commission to investigate the disappearances is one of the recommendations by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission.
The Commission says it has held regular meetings with the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and has obtained their views and experiences gained in other parts of the world particularly on matters relating to missing persons at the end of a conflict.
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