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UN envoy concludes Sri Lanka execution video authentic

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GENEVA (AFP) – A UN envoy confirmed Monday that a video allegedly depicting Sri Lanka troops executing Tamil Tigers was authentic, and that the action were "definitive war crimes".

"What is reflected in the extended video are crimes of the highest order -- definitive war crimes," said Christof Heyns, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.

"I believe that the prima facie case of serious international crimes has been made by the video that I've examined," he told the UN Human Rights Council.

"The inquiry should now be taken to a further level on an international as well as on domestic level."

Heyns had examined a video provided by Britain's Channel Four, which had aired extracts on August 25, 2009.

Following the broadcast of the extracts, Heyns' predecessor Philip Alston had probed the authenticity of the footage shot during the final stages of the Sri Lankan army's battle against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) separatists.

Alston concluded on January 7, 2010 that the extracts were genuine. However, his findings have been rejected by Sri Lankan authorities.

On Monday, Heyns presented findings of his own investigation into a longer version of the video -- five minutes of footage, and drew the same damning conclusion as his predecessor.

His investigation drew from findings by a forensic pathologist, two forensic video analysts, as well as a firearms expert.

Sri Lanka meanwhile used Monday's right council session to slam another UN report alleging atrocities committed by its military forces during the island's civil war, describing the charges as flawed and based on unverified information.

A UN report commissioned by Ban Ki-moon had highlighted "credible allegations" that both the Sri Lankan army and Tamil Tiger rebels had been involved in violations that could amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity.

"Sri Lanka regrets the procedural and substantive anomalies in the manifestly flawed report ostensibly compiled as an advisory document to the highest office of the UN," said Mahinda Samarasinghe, minister of plantation industries.

The minister also complained that the international community had failed to allow authorities enough time to carry out its own domestic probe, before pouring criticism against it.

"It is disconcerting to note the haste with which some have sought to usurp the government of Sri Lanka's prerogative in deciding its domestic process," he said.

Sri Lanka ambassador Kshenuka Senewiratne separately described the report as "based on unverified information and also unsourced."

The envoy had harsh words for UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay after she called for an international probe on the allegations.

"The continued demonstrable lack of objectivity and impropriety on the part of the HCHR (High Commissioner for Human Rights) does not augur well on the work of her office in constructive engagement with the government of Sri Lanka which we have consistently sought through our interactions," claimed the envoy.

UN envoy concludes Sri Lanka execution video authentic - Yahoo! News
 
Sri Lanka says UN Special Rapporteur's analysis of Channel 4 video is biased

Sri Lanka today disputed the report by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Christof Heynes, on a video footage which allegedly documents members of the Sri Lanka army committing extrajudicial executions.

Britain's Channel 4 has provided the video on question to the UN Special Rapporteur (UNSR) for his technical assessment to establish the authenticity of the video footage.

The UNSR commenting on his findings yesterday at the 17th session of the UN Human Rights Council said following his investigation, he believed that a prima facie case of serious international crimes had been made in the video.

He recommended that all the available evidence should be investigated by an international panel with the necessary fact-finding and investigative mandate to establish accountability for these deeds.

In response, Sri Lanka's Attorney General Mohan Peiris said Tuesday the Sri Lankan government has requested the original version of the video but Channel 4 failed to provide it to the government.

"The fact that the contents of the video were not made available to the Sri Lankan government by Channel 4 lends support to the suspicion that the broadcast of the videos was for a collateral purpose," Peiris said in his statement to the Council.

He said the UNSR provided a report with blurred and illegible images which are not of quality that could be examined and the government could not make a proper assessment. The government is ready to share the outcome when a complete analysis is made, he added.

Heyns reached the same conclusion on the extended video as his predecessor Philip Alston, who had investigated the extracts of the footage. However, Heyns has consulted three of the same experts Alston has used and those experts have reached the same conclusions.

The UNSR concluded the picture that emerges was that the events that are reflected in the video in fact occurred as depicted.

"These videos both the first and the extended version - show real people who are being summarily executed," he noted in his report.

The UNSR's report however said the claim is not being made that any specific individuals are guilty or that State responsibility has been established the point is rather that there is a well-founded case for the Sri Lankan government to answer.

The Sri Lankan Attorney General questioned the legitimacy of using the same experts and reaching the same conclusions as before.

"An expert must provide objective and unbiased reports in his competence and not play the roles of an advocate," he pointed out.

Peiris drew attention to the fact that Sri Lanka's own investigation mechanism, Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) has begun an inquiry on its own into the video with a view to ascertaining its veracity well before the UNSR prepared his report.

"Should not it be prudent for the SR to hold his hand before the findings of the LLRC," he asked commenting on the haste to make conclusions.

"It is easy to comprehend the sensitivity with which the civilian losses are perceived but it's equally important that one does not rush to conclusions," Peiris noted.

The Sri Lankan envoy said it is fundamentally indispensable that any legal enquiries such as the one taken by the UNSR, more particularly with regard to the internal armed conflict, cannot assume conclusions without taking into consideration the facts and circumstances surrounding the operation as a whole.

Peiris said the Sri Lankan government is ready to constructively engage with the SR in the future on the basis of transparency and shared process being adopted and the government will communicate to the SR on the progress achieved through domestic mechanism.

Sri Lanka : Sri Lanka says UN Special Rapporteur\'s analysis of Channel 4 video is biased
 
Why dont UN looks at the killing of innocent people in Iraq,Afghanistan,Palestine and now Libya by USA and its allies.:azn:
Same was the response of humaniterian organization and suprisingly USA when a fake video arose from Swat operation conducted by Pak Army against Taliban,
 
Whatever, we knew stuff like this happened with or without the video. It's impossible that executions like this would not happen in a bitter civil war. Besides we are talking about people who used women as suicide bombers.
 
A UN envoy confirmed Monday that a video allegedly depicting Sri Lanka troops executing Tamil Tigers was authentic, and that the action were "definitive war crimes".
That means American kill teams executing innocent Afghanis are also "definitive war crimes". Put Bush and Obama on war trials! Justice! Justice! For every nation in the world!
 
Whatever, we knew stuff like this happened with or without the video. It's impossible that executions like this would not happen in a bitter civil war. Besides we are talking about people who used women as suicide bombers.
i agree with your pov..i really have no idea why the Indian members are opposing Srilanka so much..thats a bit of hypocrisy on their part.....
if you look at the history indian peace keeping force(IPKF) which was sent on around 1987 to maintain peace between srilankans and tamil group was also associated with a large number of massacres of tamils..the so called human right abuses:look at the links below

Jaffna hospital massacre - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1989 Valvettiturai massacre - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

also hope i am not going offtopic..... but similar things have happened in kashmir also
:see below
The "Sopore Massacre" refers to the killing of 55 Kashmiri civilians by the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) in revenge after militants ambushed a BSF patrol,[1] in the town of Sopore in Kashmir on 6 January 1993.[2]
Sopore massacre - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Zakoora And Tengpora Massacre, 1990 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gawakadal massacre - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



also in operation bluestar...several sikhs were shot from behind with their hands tied by madrassi regiments as the guy in the picture
Mr. Chellaney also reported that “several” suspected Sikh militants had been shot with their hands tied.[57] The dispatch, after its first paragraph reference to “several” such deaths, specified later that “eight to 10” men had been shot in that fashion
Operation Blue Star - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

C.K.C Reddy, an Indian journalist writes that the
"Whole of Punjab and especially the Golden Temple Complex was turned into a murderous mouse trap from where people could neither escape nor could they seek succor of any kind. The way the dead bodies were disposed off adds to the suspicions regarding the number and nature of the casualties. The bodies of the victims of military operation in Punjab were unceremoniously destroyed without any attempt to identify them and hand them over to their relatives. The government, after the operation, on the other hand, did every thing in its power to cover up the excesses of the army action. The most disturbing thing about the entire operation was that a whole mass of men, women, and children were ordered to be killed merely on the suspicion that some terrorists were operating from the Golden Temple and other Gurdwaras."[63]

i believe that indians should leave this unnecessary criticism of srilanka and support them in the hour of need..atleast they got rid of the terrorists
 
i believe that indians should leave this unnecessary criticism of srilanka and support them in the hour of need..atleast they got rid of the terrorists

Indian government is supporting Srilanka. Individuals can have their own opinions, just cause there are some Americans protesting against the war in Afghanistan, doesn't mean America government is opposed to the war too.
 

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