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| Sri Lanka |
| Sri Lanka did not order shooting of surrendering rebels: top official |
| 2011-01-26 |
| (Xinhua) -- Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka's Defense Ministry Secretary told the Colombo High Court Tuesday that he did not order the killing of surrendering Tamil Tiger rebels during the last stages of the conflict. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the brother of President Mahinda Rajapaksa was giving evidence before the High Court on the "white flag case" where former army chief Sarath Fonseka is being tried for his statement that top defense officials had ordered the killing of the rebels who gave themselves up to the army with white flags in May 2009 when the three decade old war ended. The top defense official said the false accusation caused immense international damage to Sri Lanka, and as a result some of the foreign training for the Sri Lankan troops came to be suspended. He said on the contrary the government treated the the surrendering rebels well, over 5,600 of whom were already rehabilitated and released. Fonseka who led the troops to victory over the Tamil Tiger rebels fell out with the president after the conflicted ended. His statement on the rebel killing was made to a Sunday weekly when he contested against incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa in the presidential election in January 2010. |
| Posted by:Fred |