BASL wants Army probe scrapped

By Ishara Ratnakara-Friday, 23 Aug 2013

 

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) has expressed strong opposition to the investigations conducted by the Army into the Weliweriya incident on 1 August, where three persons were killed.

They also requested Gampaha Chief Magistrate, Tikiri Jayatilleke, to call off all investigations conducted by the Army, alleging that they are in the blame for the three deaths.

The BASL representatives, condemning the investigations, submitted a copy of the summons issued by the Army... ...requesting the residents of Rathupaswala to give evidence at their camp.

ASP Nuwan Wedasinghe, who was present at the Court said, so far there have been no problems with the investigations conducted by the Army.

The Chief Magistrate told one of the BASL members, Upul Deshapriya, to produce a witness who had received summons issued by the Army, to Courts. He also said the judgment would be delivered after considering the facts produced pertaining to the BASL's claims.

If father is President’s stooge and mother is Shiranthi’s lackey – lucky son can even abduct school girls
(Lanka-e-News-22.Aug.2013,11.30PM) It has to come to light following the attempt made to abduct a schoolgirl at Maharagama ,day before yesterday that it is the criminal Medamulana Rajapakse family that is behind every crime however small or big committed in this country. The Maharagama incident was ample testimony to this allegation , according to reports reaching Lanka e news inside information division.

It is N A Welivita , the son of Rohan Welivita , the co ordinating secretary to Medamulana Percy Mahendra Rajapakse who had been responsible for these several attempts to abduct a 17 year old student sitting the G C E Adv. Level examination. Rohan Welivita’s wife , Anoma Welivita works for Shiranthi Rajapakse as her private ‘coolie’ descending to do all her private sordid biddings.

This scoundrel of a son of President’s co ordinating secretary had had the audacity to visit the girl’s house on the 17 th and threaten to abduct the teenager before her own parents. Though the girl’s father had made a complaint to the Aturugiriya police in this connection , no action had been taken by the police . 

One could therefore imagine the lawlessness in the country under a regime when even after a father complains to the police of an attempted abduction of his teenage daughter , the police takes no action. Need we explain how much a father would suffer and his predicament in such circumstances.

On the 19 th when the student was returning home after sitting her advanced level exam, a black vehicle carrying Rohan Welivita’s son and a group had been trailing the girl’s bus. At Maharagama , the group had stopped the bus , and tried to abduct the girl. When the latter had started screaming those in the vicinity had intervened and saved the girl. 

The parents of the girl had then made another complaint to the police . Yet , the police had taken no action underlining the raging lawless culture under the Rajapakse regime .

The Maharagama police had recorded this abduction complaint in the minor offences register. To the Maharagama police , twice attempting to abduct a teenage student constitutes a ‘minor’ offence. 

Based on the complaint M B I B 121/ 245 (minor offences) , Rohan Welivita’s son N V Welivita ( 28),M W Dedunuge (19), K Ganewatte ( 18) , S Devananda (18) and G N Abeywardena (19) were finally arrested. Some are students of D. S. Senanayake College Colombo. This attempt is most criminal and most punishable because most of them are G C E advanced level students 

Now coming to the most reprehensible and deplorable part of the law enforcing process : these suspects who had attempted to commit a most heinous criminal abduction had been released and allowed to go home on the 19th night at 10.40 on police bail within a few hours of taking them into custody in the evening at 5.25

In the police register it is recorded that the suspects had been released on a notification made to the SSP of the division by the coordinating secretary to the President . However it is not mentioned that it is the coordinating secretary to the President, Rohan Welivita who had given this notification.

No SSP , court or magistrate has the power to release the arrested suspects who are charged with attempted abduction and molestation on bail merely because co ordinating secretaries to the President made requests . It is an offence under 21 heinous crimes.

This SSP W. M. M. Wickremesinghe who acted most unlawfully was a stooge of Medamulana Percy Mahendra Rajapakse attached to the PSD (Presidential security division). Therefore in the final analysis , it is none other than the brutal ruthless Manimal Percy Mahendra Rajapakse who is behind giving protection and saving criminal Weli Hemantha who raped a wizened bedridden 90 year old grandma ; the criminals including Welivita who attempted to abduct and molest a 17 year old student ; and the recent killing of two students at Weliveriya by shooting under orders of the Rajapakses.

In the circumstances the Manimal at the top telling shamelessly and openly ‘ if he is of our (criminal) kind , we do our best and save him ’ is therefore not a cause for surprise.

Bullets, pen caps and flawed logic

August 22, 2013, 12:00 pm 

UNP parliamentarian Ajith Mannapperuma got into hot water when he, in a bid to drive his point home during Wednesday’s adjournment debate on the Weliweriya killings, produced an object, claiming that it was a bullet used in crushing the Aug. 01 protest. He insisted that it had been found embedded in a wayside wall. However, when the government MPs raised hell calling for disciplinary action against him for bringing a bullet into the House, Deputy Speaker Chandima Weerakkody said MP Mannapperuma had claimed what he had just shown was not a bullet but a gold coloured pen cap.

Bullets, Pen Caps and Flawed Logic by nelvely

SRI LANKA: New ‘Law and Order Ministry’ is a further step towards militarization

August 23, 2013

The establishment of a Law and Order Ministry under the President has been announced. The Secretary to this Ministry, according to reports, is Major General (Retired) Nanda Mallawarachchi, a retired military officer. Maj.Gen. Mallawarachichi is a former Chief of Staff of the Sri Lankan Army. He later became the Sri Lankan Ambassador to Indonesia. He reported to have played a major role in kidnapping Kumaran Pathmanathan of the LTTE from a hotel and taking him to the Airport with the help of the Malaysian security forces.

While the establishment of this ministry is justified under the pretext of following a recommendation from the Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), what this represents in fact is a further step in the militarization process.

The recommendations of the LLRC are made within the framework of the rule of law. Under the rule of law, law and order simply means the establishment of the supremacy of the law and the enforcement of the law through legitimate authorities, which are the civilian police, an independent Attorney General’s department as prosecutor, and an independent judiciary. Under the rule of law, the place of the military is to be in the barracks and to serve only when called for, when there is a threat to the nation. However, what is happening in Sri Lanka now is the process of bringing the military to the forefront under the pretext of maintaining law and order.

At Weliweriya, the nation saw how the military can be called upon to intervene into a peaceful demonstration of villagers, who were only demanding the right to have clean water. Snipers acting as soldiers opened fire and killed many innocent people. Other soldiers even entered church premises and assaulted people taking shelter in the church. As a result, one person was killed and many were injured on the church premises. Two others who were killed were young boys of sixteen and eighteen, who had no connection at all to any protest. When an inquiry was called, it was handed over to the military themselves. The military officer who headed the military inquiry is internationally under suspicion for alleged war crimes.

Under these circumstances, those who are concerned about the civil liberties of the citizens and the future of the law in the country should seriously study this twisted meaning of ‘law and order’. Some serious studies are available on this issue. For example, one of the countries that used the phrase ‘law and order’ for the militarization of the country was Myanmar (Burma) under the military dictatorship of General Ne Win. During his rule, from 1962 to 1988, the words ‘law and order’ became the slogan for the undoing of the basic legal structure that was established by the British during the colonial occupation of Myanmar, and put in place military institutions that were, naturally, also headed by senior military officers. It went on to the extent of even selecting judges for the so-called courts from the military, and even the present Chief Justice in Myanmar is a former military officer.

A study on this was done by Dr. Nick Cheesman at the Australian National University (ANU), entitled “The politics of law and order in Myanmar”. In this study, he has pointed out the use of the phrase “law and order” to divorce whatever that was called “order” from law. By this process, the commands of the government acquired the status of “law”. Under a rule of law system, law is made through a parliamentary process and requires the legitimacy gained through following the required criteria for the making of law. Furthermore, in a rule of law situation, law is finally subjected to the interpretation of the judiciary. However, under a law and order situation in a military context, the commands from the government have to be obeyed by everyone, including the judiciary. Dr. Cheesman demonstrates the manner through which the courts became mere instruments in the hands of the military to carry out military orders.

Now, under the pretext of implementing LLRC orders, a further stage of militarization is being pursued. Perhaps, the phrase “law and order” is being used to impress Dr. Navi Pillay (UN High Commissioner for Human Rights) during her visit, hoping that she may report that a recommendation of the LLRC has been complied with. That the important occasion of the visit of the High Commissioner is also used to create legitimacy for the militarization is an indication of the direction in which the country has embarked.

US Wants Lankan Troops Investigated; Former Army Commander Says 53, 57 Divisions Seem Blackliste

August 23, 2013 |

Criteria for US sponsored military training is directly linked to accountability the US Government has said, urging President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Government to pursue a mechanism to investigate allegations of gross human rights violations by its soldiers in a credible way, according to a Colombo based newspaper report.

Chief of Defence Staff

The renewed call for credible investigations follows a decision by the US Government to reject two senior military officers for a training programme in New Zealand on the basis of accountability concerns against the two Majors General. Major General Jagath Dias who was recently put in charge of the military board of inquiry into theWeliweriya violence that claimed three lives when the army was sent in to disperse a demonstration and Major General Sudantha Ranasinghe who was recently appointed Commanding Officer of the 53 Division were rejected for training by a US foreign troop vetting system.

Quoting a US Embassy official in Colombo the Daily FT said the Washington believed there was a cloud over certain sections of the Sri Lankan security forces because of “credible allegations” against them.

“There is a limit of work the US Government can do with a particular regiment if there are credible allegations of human rights violations against them and we can’t move forward until there is a credible investigation into the allegations,” the newspaper quoted a US Embassy official as saying.

The selection of military candidates is performed through a rigorous vetting process, under the 1998 US Leahy Laws, that specifically disqualify personnel against whom “credible information” exists regarding human rights violations, the Daily FT reported.

The newspaper quotes the Embassy official as saying that there was a cloud over certain military divisions due to the allegations. The ineligibility for US facilitated training was no way permanent and could be reversed with a genuine inquiry, the newspaper reports the official said. Read More

Crowd censoring

OPINION » EDITORIAL-August 22, 2013

Tamil nationalist groups are again displaying an intolerant streak. They wantMadras Café, a film loosely based on the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, to be banned because it shows the Tamil Eelam struggle in Sri Lanka in a poor light. Though the Madras High Court has rightly declined to stay the release of the film, some groups seeking to ban the film are readying themselves to create a law and order problem as a form of protest. That apprehension of law and order disruptions cannot be grounds for banning a film is settled law and has been upheld repeatedly by the Supreme Court of India. In its judgment in S. Rangarajan v Jagjivan Ram involving the film Ore Oru Gramathile, in 1989, the court was unequivocal that “freedom of expression cannot be suppressed on account of [the] threat of demonstration and processions or threats of violence.” The right to freedom of speech and expression is enshrined in the Constitution, and chauvinist elements, no matter of what hue, should not be allowed to infringe on this right citing some imagined slight to a group or community. The onus is on the State government and its policing arm to act against those attempting to disrupt law and order. Whether the film is good or bad, whether it is fact or fiction, all these have nothing to do with the right to freedom of expression of the film-makers and artistes.

Of late, film-makers and distributors have been organising special screenings for representatives of groups or communities who apprehend that the film could be offensive to their sensibilities. In Tamil Nadu, the government appears to have encouraged such groups by banning the film Dam 999 and seeming sympathetic to those wanting a ban on Vishwaroopam. The Central Board of Film Certification is the only competent body to censor a film, and once cleared by the board, no film should again have to be subjected to “clearance” from groups claiming to have been offended by it. Chauvinist elements are emboldened when a government adds to the pressure on the film-makers, instead of getting tough on those threatening to disturb law and order. Too often, the producers are forced to compromise and agree to cuts rather than risk prolonging the release of the film. When the government does not stand up for freedom of speech and expression, film-makers, distributors and exhibitors think it is safer to buy peace with the chauvinist groups. It would reflect very poorly on the administrative capabilities of the Tamil Nadu government if the film is withheld from exhibition for fear of violence. As for those who wish to protect their fragile sensibilities from being hurt in any manner, how’s this for a really simple remedy? Don’t see the movie.

BJP against screening of 'Madras Cafe' in Mumbai

PTI Aug 21, 2013, 07.49PM IST

MUMBAI: Opposing screening of 'Madras Cafe', in Mumbai for allegedly portraying the outlawed LTTE in bad light, the BJP on Wednesday warned that its activists would take to streets if the film was screened.

"The film with John Abraham in leading role, has a negative portrayal of LTTE chief V Prabhakaran. The movie deals with the Rajiv Gandhi assassination and mentions Tamil organisations as terror outfits," Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar said here.

Tamil organisations have opposed the movie and have called for a countrywide ban on it, he said.

"Several Tamil brethren live in Mumbai as it is the country's financial capital. Many organisations have registered their opposition to the film, with the BJP. It is felt that there will be social discord if the film is allowed to be shown here," Shelar said.

If the state government fails to stop the screening of the film, BJP workers would take to streets and protest at the cinema halls, he said.

'Madras Cafe', directed by Shoojit Sircar, is a spy thriller set in the early 1990s amid the civil war between the Tamil tigers and Sri Lankan regime and is set for release on August 23.

Australia’s detention of 46 refugees ‘cruel and degrading,’ UN rights experts find

Australia’s detention of 46 refugees ‘cruel and degrading,’ UN rights experts find

Friday, August 23, 2013

GENEVA (22 AUGUST 2013) Australia’s indefinite detention of 46 recognized refugees on security grounds amounted to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, inflicting serious psychological harm on them, a UN Committee has found after examining their cases.

The Geneva-based Human Rights Committee said Australia should release the refugees, who have been held for at least two and a half years, and offer them compensation and rehabilitation.

The refugees — 42 Tamils from Sri Lanka, three Rohingya from Myanmar and a Kuwaiti — brought their complaints to Human Rights Committee, arguing that they were unable to challenge the legality of their detention in the Australian courts. 

They had been recognized as refugees who could not be returned to their home countries but were refused visas to stay in Australia because they were deemed to pose a security risk, and so were held in immigration detention facilities. 

The Committee, composed of 18 independent human rights experts, found that the refugees’ detention was arbitrary and violated Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)*, which states that no one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention. The Committee reached its conclusion based principally on the fact that the refugees were not told the reasons for the negative security assessment and so were unable to mount a legal challenge to their indefinite detention.

“The combination of the arbitrary character of (their) detention, its protracted and/or indefinite duration, the refusal to provide information and procedural rights to (them) and the difficult conditions of detention are cumulatively inflicting serious psychological harm upon them,” the Committee members wrote in their conclusions adopted on 25 July and made public on Thursday.

This constituted treatment contrary to Article 7 of the ICCPR, under which “no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,” they added.

The Human Rights Committee said that Australia is obliged, under Article 2 of the Covenant, to provide all 46 refugees with effective remedy. This includes releasing them under individually appropriate conditions, and offering them rehabilitation and appropriate compensation.

Australia is also under an obligation to take steps to prevent similar violations in the future, the Human Rights Committee concluded.

The Human Rights Committee monitors implementation of the ICCPR by States parties. It considered this case under the First Optional Protocol to the Covenant which gives the Committee competence to examine individual complaints.

BACKGROUND:

Most of the refugees arrived in Australian territorial waters between March 2009 and December 2010 and were first disembarked at Christmas Island. Five were rescued at sea and initially disembarked in Indonesia before arriving at Christmas Island. At the time of their submission to the Committee, they were being held at several detention centres, including Scherger Immigration Detention Centre in Queensland; Villawood Immigration Residential Housing in Sydney; Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation; Darwin Immigration Centre; Maribyrnong Immigration Detention Centre in Victoria and Christmas Island.

In their complaints, lodged in 2011 and 2012, the refugees argued that, as they were not informed of the reasons for their security assessment, they were unable to identify any possible legal errors which could allow them to apply for a judicial review in the Australian courts.

The Australian authorities argued that all the claims were inadmissible. They also said solutions were being explored, including resettlement or the safe return to the refugees’ countries of origin if the risk of harm no longer existed. However, it was not appropriate for individuals with an adverse security assessment to live in the Australian community while solutions were sought. Providing people with the classified details would also undermine the security assessment process and compromise Australia’s security.

Since the complaints were lodged, seven of the refugees — a mother and her son, who was born in 2007, and a family of five — have now been granted visas and released from immigration detention into the Australian community
DBS

Sri Lanka court ends ban on sale of Fonterra products

The Fonterra logo is seen near the Fonterra Te Rapa plant near Hamilton August 6, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Nigel Marple

GAMPAHA, Sri Lanka | Fri Aug 23, 2013 9:31pm ISTBy Shihar Aneez

(Reuters) - A Sri Lankan court ended a ban on the sale, distribution and advertising of all Fonterra (FSF.NZ) milk products, lawyers said, soon after the company suspended operations in Sri Lanka on Friday.

The New Zealand dairy giant said earlier it had temporarily suspended work at the Sri Lanka unit, citing precautionary measures to ensure the safety of its 755 employees after it faced product bans, court cases and angry demonstrators.

The district court of Gampaha last week banned Fonterra from selling or advertising its products after food safety authorities said they found the toxic agricultural chemical dicyandiamide (DCD) in two batches of milk powder. Fonterra vigorously disputes the finding.

After a nearly three-hour court session, Sudath Perera, a lawyer representing Fonterra, said, "The enjoining order was dissolved on suppression and misrepresentation of the facts submitted to the courts."

Upul Jayasuriya, who represented a health sector trade union that filed the case, said the judge had said consumers could make a decision on whether or not to use Fonterra milk powder.

"They (defendents) made submissions, but the judge did not refer to any suppression and misrepresentation. The judge said that there is no independent report to say that there is DCD," Jayasuriya said.

The court also has summoned top officials at the Fonterra subsidiary on contempt of court charges for not adhering to the earlier ban.

Perera said the contempt of court case has been fixed on September 25.

Sri Lanka's state-run Industrial Technology Institute (ITI) found the DCD in a batch Anchor full-cream milk power and another of the Anchor 1+ brand for young children, which were manufactured between October and December 2012.

Fonterra has disputed the accuracy of the ITI testing, but the local company Fonterra Brands Lanka last week told Reuters it had recalled two batches of Anchor-branded products in accordance with the health ministry directive.

Sri Lankan opposition follows a global food scare after Fonterra said earlier this month that some of its products could contain a bacteria that can cause botulism. Its products have been removed from shelves from China to Saudi Arabia, while other countries have restricted imports.

(editing by Jane Baird)

Rajapakses providing facilities here to terrorists trained in Pakistan against India : 8 of them leave for India
(Lanka-e-News-23.Aug.2013, 10.00PM) Indian intelligence division has confirmed that the armed terrorists who are being trained in Pakistan are being provided with facilities by the Rajapakse regime. The Times of India news service had reported that the Maharashtra police had been warned by the intelligence division that 8 members of the Lashkar e Taiba terrorist group who received training in Pakistan had arrived in India from Sri Lanka targeting Mumbai for attack. The Indian intelligence division states that these terrorists have arrived in India from a camp situated 28 kilometers away from Jaffna.

LeN inside information division that had been diligently following this development for some time has this report :

The Indian terrorists leave India pretending they are heading for Sri Lanka (SL) .The terrorists who come to SL then leave for Pakistan for training. Since they leave with the permission of SL defense secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse , neither the departure counter of the Airport has any record , nor are any endorsements made on their passports.

Following their training in Pakistan they return to SL on the same basis. There is no stamping anywhere that they have arrived in SL. Thereafter they enter India in the same way as they entered SL.

Lanka-e-News reported when the computer systems at Katunayake Airport failed mysteriously for about an hour on the 17 th , that LeN is keeping a watch over this calculated conspiratorial action because we were in receipt of information on the aforementioned terrorist stoking activities. 

It is impossible for such a system to fail in that manner. When the system fails there is a sure- fire back up system under the sophisticated technology to enable it to continue uninterrupted . On the other hand if it had truly failed there is no way out of that failure possible within an hour.

This may have not been the first time such a failure could have occurred. Moreover , though . the conspiratorial failure came to light at least this much at Katunayake , the happenings at the Mattala Airport are totally shut out from public knowledge. There being no reporters there, and all those who were recruited to that place to all divisions were Rajapakses’ Nil Balakaya cronies. Hence , even if Mattala may be a loss to the country , to the Rajapakse mafia it is not a loss for their selfish goals are however being reached.

Might we recall that Lanka-e-News reported some time ago that illicit arms deals are being carried out via the floating armory off the Galle sea where weapons are being stored after they are imported by defense secretary Gotabaya ostensibly for SL’s needs. This was borne testimony to when this racket was exposed following a ship load of illicit weapons from Israel of Gotabaya was seized by UAE government and it came to light that such a ship load of weapons was not officially ordered by the SL government. 

Those weapons never came into Sri Lanka officially, nevertheless.

There are nearly 40 terrorist organizations which have been proscribed by India. LTTE at that time made this business of selling arms to them as their number one source of income. 
Interestingly , the LTTE leader for these arms deals then was KP who is now with the licensed Mafia government and an associate of the Medamulana Rajapakse murderers. Need we elaborate further on the inevitable catastrophe the country is fast headed towards ?

Sri Lanka’s Pioneering MP Monitoring Website Now Online

August 23, 2013 |

Sri Lanka’s Pioneering MP Monitoring Website (Manthri.lk) Now Online With Advanced Capabilities To Empower Sri Lankan Voters To Be Better Informed (in Sinhala, Tamil & English)

Sri Lanka’s very first website to enable voters to assess the performance of their elected representatives in the national legislature on objective criteria through state of the art technology and credible, reliable methodologies, was unveiled and launched this evening (Friday, August 23, 2013), in Committee Room D of the BMICH in Colombo.

The trilingual site (www.manthri.lk) is not politically affiliated and can be accessed and made use of in Sinhala, Tamil and English. The site involved work by reputed research organization Verite Research (www.veriteresearch.org), which provides strategic analysis and solutions to governments and private sector entities in Asia. They were partnered as initial contributors, by Saberion (Pvt) Ltd and National Endowment for Democracy.

Upto now, voters have been faced with difficulty in tracing, collating and evaluating the respective contributions of Members of Parliament (MPs) in the House. In fact, some MPs have not made any contribution at all to the discussion and debates that take place within the legislature. This problem had been highlighted in several studies conducted in the past. However, this is the first time that a solution of this nature has been made available to the public, enabling any user to have clearer insights and appreciation of how elected representatives in the Sri Lankan Parliament have engaged (or not engaged) critical issues of general or particular interest or relevance.

A user is able to search for MPs by district, political party, political coalition or topic. Parliamentarians can also be compared for rankings in several ways, which are based on objective and defensible criteria. The site also sets out an overall ranking as well as district wise ranking of Parliamentarians.Read More

China releases video of ousted politician’s wife

By AP News Aug 23, 2013 

A TV screen shows a news report of disgraced politician Bo Xilai. Pic: AP.

JINAN, China (AP) — Prosecutors in the trial of disgraced politician Bo Xilai used his own wife to bolster bribery allegations against him, presenting videotaped testimony Friday in which she says a businessman accused of bribing her husband gave their family gifts including airline tickets and a Segway scooter.

Bo’s wife, Gu Kailai, set off the scandal that ruined Bo’s career by murdering a British businessman. Among other allegations in China’s messiest political scandal in decades, Bo is accused of interfering with the investigation.

He sought to discredit his wife even before the video was shown in Jinan Intermediate People’s Court. On Thursday, when his trial began, he questioned his wife’s credibility and mental health while fiercely denying that he took $3.5 million in bribes from two businessmen, one of whom he described as a “mad dog” trying to earn credit with authorities.

It is unclear when the video of Gu Kailai was taken. She was convicted of murder in August 2012 and has not been publicly seen since.

Bo, former Communist Party boss of the megacity of Chongqing, has launched an unexpectedly spirited defense in the trial, which is widely believed to have a conviction as its predetermined outcome.

(READ MORE: Who’s who in China’s Bo Xilai political scandal)

In the video, Gu said a businessman accused of bribing Bo was a family friend who did many favors for them in exchange for her husband’s help. The businessman, Xu Ming, is from the northeastern city of Dalian, where Bo was once a top official.

Gu said Xu often paid for the family’s international air tickets and brought gifts that included expensive seafood. She said her son received a Segway — an electric standup scooter — from Xu, and that Bo had been aware of the gifts.

“Xu Ming is our old and longtime friend,” Gu is seen telling her questioner, who identified herself as someone from the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the country’s top prosecutor’s office. “We had a very good impression of him and believed he was honest and kind, so we trusted him a lot.”

Gu is seen seated at a table in a black-and-white striped shirt in the video, posted on the Jinan court’s microblog. The microblog and court transcripts have provided a rare but possibly incomplete window into the proceedings for the public and for foreign media, which have been barred from the courtroom.

Gu, convicted of murdering businessman Neil Heywood, received a suspended death sentence that may be reduced to life in prison.

Bo is accused of corruption and of interference in the investigation of Heywood’s murder. Prosecutors on Thursday ended months of suspense about details of the bribery charges against him, rolling out accusations that featured a villa in France, a hot-air balloon project and a football club, illustrating how colorful corruption can be in China. The trial was delving further into the bribery allegations Friday before moving on to charges of embezzlement of government funds and abuse of office.

The Communist Party hopes the trial will show that it’s serious about cracking down on widespread corruption in a transparent way despite what is widely believed to be a predetermined conclusion of guilt. Its openness in releasing transcripts of the proceedings underscores its confidence it can weather any damage to its reputation from a case that exposed the illicit machinations of an elite family in China’s communist establishment.

Bo’s defense on Thursday focused on challenging prosecutors’ evidence that he provided political favors to the two businessmen. He said barely knew the men and argued that he was ignorant of the favors they were providing his wife and son.

Welikade Prison Massacres: Chief Jailor Observed Army Commandos Coming In

By Rajan Hoole --August 22, 2013 

Rajan Hoole

Sri Lanka’s Black July – Part 16 - Welikade Prison Massacres:

We now continue with the testimony of the victim downstairs.

“They (Douglas Devenanda and …) carried me out and placed me in the front (visitors) lobby, just inside the main gate of the building. On the way, I saw the dead body of Dr. Rajasundaram, and the body of Mariampillai (50) whose head had been crushed. Where I was placed, I saw Thevakumar next to me unconscious. (He died later in hospital.) The SP came there and I told him that I was losing blood. He asked me if I could walk and I impulsively said ‘yes’.

“Some prisoners employed by the authorities in manual work (‘loyal’ prisoners) who were carrying the corpses and heard me speaking, talked of taking me to a room and silencing me for good. Understanding what was said in Sinhalese, I shouted, “Sir, Sir”. An army officer came there and I told him, “They will kill me here, take me to hospital”. Thevakumar and I were taken to the hospital in a truck.

“At the Colombo Hospital, the doctor asked for me to be X-rayed. But because of a staff shortage I was simply left there. People came to look at me out of curiosity. Some called me a Kotiya (Tiger) and some spat upon me. A nurse came near me. I held her hand and told her in Sinhalese, “You must save me!” She came with a bottle of saline, but there was no stand to hold it. I held the bottle up. Another nurse came and pulled away the bottle and tube. The first nurse scolded her and reconnected the saline. We were then taken to a women’s ward and a lady doctor stitched me up. We were then taken to a men’s ward. Thevakumar had not regained consciousness and was making an unusual noise. We were chained to our bed by one of our legs. I later learnt that Thevakumar had died. On the following day, the Magistrate recorded my testimony. Read More

To be continued..

Part one - Sri Lanka’s Black July: Borella, 24th Evening

Part two - Sri Lanka’s Black July: What Really Happened At Kanatte?

Part three - Black July: ‘Api Suddha Kara’ – JR’s Failure To Declare Curfew

Part four - Sri Lanka’s Black July: The Cover Up

Part five -  30th July 1983: The Second Naxalite Plot

Part six  - Black July: The Testimony Of Lionel Bopage, Then General Secretary Of The JVP

Part seven - Black July: Thondaman & Muttetuwegama

Part eight - What Was Behind Tiger Friday – 29th July? -The Significance Of The Pettah

Part nine - Tamil Merchants In The Pettah – Post July 1983

Part ten –  Sri Lanka’s Black July: A Family’s Tragedy In Colombo

Part eleven -  Sri Lanka’s Black July: The Question Of Numbers

Part twelve –  Welikade Prison Massacres: The First Massacre: 25th July 1983

Part thirteen –  Welikade Prison Massacres: Testimonies Given At The Magistrate’s Inquest

Part fourteen -  Circumstances Leading To The Magistrate’s Inquest

Part fifteen - Welikade Prison: The Second Massacre: 27th July 1983

*From Rajan Hoole‘s “Sri Lanka: Arrogance of Power  - Myth, Decadence and Murder”. Thanks to Rajan for giving us permission to republish. To be continued..

Ms Navi Pillai’s Visit to Sri-Lanka in August 2013 Gives UNHCR Chance to Rectify its Mistakes

By: Dr C P Thiagarajah

A report compiled by a committee co-chaired by former US Secretary of State Ms Madeleine K. Albright for United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, United States Institute of Peace, and Brookings Institution, has criticised the international reaction to Sri Lanka during the final stages of the conflict in May 2009. Former presidential special envoy to Sudan Richard Williamson was the other co-chair. The findings were:

The concept of R2P is embraced by countries in the UN including the USA. The main aim of this provision is preventing and halting genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing. However, the international community neglected its responsibility to take timely action when it was apparent that violations of humanitarian law were taking place during January to May 2009 when the Sri-Lankan government advanced into LTTE held areas with the help of India and Western countries. The report stressed that tens of thousands of Tamil civilians died at the end of the Sri Lankan civil war with little international outcry or effective UN response.

Ms Navi Pillai’s Visit to Sri-Lanka in August 2013 Gives UNHCR Chance to Rectify its Mistakes by nelvely