push the question of accountability. It may well be that a full and fair examination
by the Sri Lankan government of the state’s own conduct and that of its adversary
will need to await electoral developments some years down the road.”
[Accountability And The Sri Lankan Civil War By Steven R. Ratner- The American
Journal of International Law. Vol. 106.778] The UK’s Channel 4 produced three
documentaries, ‘Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields’, ‘War Crimes Unpunished’, ‘No Fire
Zone’ on the final days of the war providing video evidence of the armed forces
engaging
in
acts
of
crimes
against humanity, war crimes and genocide. These documentaries have been widely
publicized around the world and have received awards for proving evidence of what
was called a ‘war without witness’.
In March 2012 and in March 2013 US sponsored Resolutions were passed in the
Human Rights Council which required that Sri Lanka put in process a plan to address
the issues raised in the LLRC Report. The 2013 Resolution also requested that the
State allow UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay to visit Sri Lanka.
She visited Sri Lanka for a week in late August 2013. She visited the North and the
East as well and in her interim report observed that Sri Lanka was descending into an
authoritarian state.
Ganeshan Nimalaruban’s case is a stark
reminder of the situation of the rule of law Sri Lanka today. Nimalaruban was a
prisoner under the State’s Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) on allegations that he
was a member of the LTTE. He was attacked and killed in August 2012 while in
police custody in the Vavuniya prison with the justification that he had engaged in a
protest against the prison guards. In October 2013, the Sri Lankan Supreme Court
hearing the fundamental rights application filed by Nimalaruban’s parents on his
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