Case against President dismissed by US Court
Recognizing ‘Foreign Policy interests’ in US - Sri
Lanka relationship:
A US federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed against Sri Lankan
President Mahinda Rajapaksa noting that President Rajapaksa is immune
from lawsuits as a sitting Head of State, states Sri Lanka Embassy in
Washington in a press release.
The court noted that Head of State immunity is a well-established
legal principle in the United States. The US State Department had
entered a motion asking that the case be dismissed because of the
immunity precedent.
Sri Lanka, defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE)
terrorist group in May 2009, ending a 26-year-long conflict. The lawsuit
alleged human rights abuses occurred during the conflict, and attempted
to hold President Rajapaksa responsible.
The case was brought by Bruce Fein, an attorney who has been accused
of working closely with the pro-LTTE diaspora in the United States.
In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly wrote: Two
centuries of case law and basic constitutional and statutory principles
prevent this Court from allowing Plaintiffs' Complaint to move forward
at this time."
The government of Sri Lanka has vehemently denied violating human
rights laws during the lengthy conflict against terrorism.
In May 2010 the President appointed an independent, eight-member
commission to examine the conflict. Recently that commission issued a
final report that found that Sri Lanka did not deliberately target
civilians during the fighting. It also issued recommendations, including
a call to hold those accountable who might have committed wrongdoing
during the fighting. The government is currently in the process of
implementing the commission's recommendations.
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