Foreign Secretary dismisses ICJ claims

SWITZERLAND: Rejecting the insinuations regarding the killing of 17 aid workers in Muttur, Foreign Secretary Dr. Palitha Kohona has clarified some of the allegations made by the International Commission of Jurist’s (ICJ) report.

Dr. Kohona in a statement issued through the Sri Lankan Permanent Mission in Geneva said he categorically dismissed the claim by the ICJ that the evidence in the case has been tampered with.

He said the misunderstanding has arisen due to different conclusions reached by the ballistics experts from Sri Lanka and Australia.

Dr. Malcolm Dodd, an Australian forensic pathologist invited to Sri Lanka to help in the aid workers killing investigations identified one bullet as 5.56mm which was different from other 7.2mm, whereas the Government Analyst’s report prepared by a local ballistics expert maintained that all bullets were 7.2mm.

“The discrepancy could have arisen because the two experts reached different conclusions,” the Foreign Secretary added.

Although the Government stood by the GA’s report, this report has been sent to Australia for further examination and there will be a meeting between Lankan and Australian experts to clear this confusion.

He has also explained the decision to change the Magistrate in Muttur was taken because he was also a victim in the incident and is regarded as a potential witness.

The Magistrate, having given evidence before the Commission of Inquiry has now sought refuge in a bunker. The Foreign Secretary said the Commission of inquiry had made steady progress in its work, whereas in former Yugoslavia and Cambodia it took many years.

The Attorney General is to institute court proceedings for the two cases, the killing of five schoolchildren and the assassination of former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar.