Featured image courtesy The Wire/Ishara K
The topic of international involvement in Sri Lanka’s accountability process, specifically the participation of foreign judges, is controversial and hotly contested. The UNHRC resolution, co-sponsored by Sri Lanka in October 2015, called for “a credible accountability process” which “should include independent judicial and prosecutorial institutions… and further affirms in this regard the importance of participation in a Sri Lankan judicial mechanism, including the Special Counsel’s office, of Commonwealth and other foreign judges, defence lawyers, and authorised prosecutors and investigator.” However the Government has changed their stance on this consistently, especially since President Maithripala Sirisena took office on January 8, 2015.
In this light, Groundviews has created a timeline of statements with regards to the accountability process, beginning from that date.
View the timeline here, or below: