sri lanka's commissions of inquiry - Law & Society Trust

Recognise criminal liability of officials with chain-of-command
responsibility. 119 IV.9(iv)
Officers with chain of command responsibility who order or
tolerate disappearances by those under their command to be
Southern, Final
(174)
All Island,
Final (85)
made invariably criminally liable. 120 IV.29
Prosecutions be not confined to Junior Officers alone. 121 III.6 All Island,
Final (83)
Attorney-General Where a violation amounts to a criminal offence, Attorney Southern, Final
General/Proposed Independent Prosecutor to initiate (177)
prosecutions. 122 VI.5(ii)
1997
2001
2001
1997
119. Not implemented.
120.
“Commissions of Inquiry are not replacements for good policing or respect for the rule of law. Bringing perpetrators to account, including high
officials in positions of command responsibility, is the only way to break the cycle of impunity.” Amnesty International, June 2009, p. 47.
121.
“The old question of impunity remains very much with us. Whether or not each individual Police Sergeant, Police Driver, Army Corporal is
prosecuted is hardly indicative; but there are some key figures, and people say: “If those are still free what are you talking to us about Justice.”
All Island Commission Report, 2001, quoting INFORM, p. 15.
122.
Although no Independent Prosecutor has been appointed, “[a] special unit named the Missing Persons Unit had been established in 1998
at the Attorney General’s Department to advise on investigations and to conduct prosecutions in cases of Disappearances. By 1st January,
2000 this unit had initiated 213 prosecutions in the High Court and 79 non-summary inquires in Magistrate’s Courts.” All Island Commission
Report, 2001, p. 16, “The establishment of this Unit while underlining the special problems of prosecuting cases of disappearances suffers
from drawbacks, in that the prosecutor is the Attorney General who invariable is the representative of the State, either as prosecutor or as
respondent, in judicial proceedings. In this instance the present arrangement makes the Attorney General the representative of the victim,
and prosecutions are conducted on the basis that the crimes where the acts of errant officials. This again highlights a problem of the
public perception of a Conflict of Interest, in that the victims are very much affected by the awareness that State Officers are investigating
into complaints against Officers of [the] State.” All Island Commission Report, 2001, p. 16. “Fourteen years later, Amnesty International’s
conclusion remains the same; if anything it is strengthened by the persistence of new violations of human rights and the continuing absence of
political will to prevent or stop such violations, investigate them properly, prosecute those suspected of criminal offences or ensure reparations
for victims, in accordance with Sri Lanka’s obligations under international human rights law and international humanitarian law.” Amnesty
International, June 2009, at p.11
Shanthia Patciirana v. DIG (Personnel & Training) and others, C. A. writ Application No. 1123/2002, C. A. Minutes 09.10.2006
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