Thread by @itjpsl

New .@JDSLanka report with @itjpsl on the command responsibility case against Gotabaya Rajapaksa for 700+ enforced disappearances in Matale from June 1989 - Jan. 1990 when he was the Military Coordinator in charge of the district.

itjpsl.com/reports/gotaba…

@JDSLanka Worth noting #lka army chief Shavendra Silva, Sumedha Perera & Jagath Dias were among Gotabaya's commany commanders in Matale in 1989 (acc to GR's biographer now made Ambassador in Geneva!) & ex #srilanka IGP Mahinda Balasuriya (deceased) was also there in 89.

@JDSLanka Disappearances in Matale - white part indicates period Gotabaya Rajapaksa was in command there:

(leaflet summarises itjpsl.com/assets/ITJP_19…)

@JDSLanka Look at the sites in the town where detention occurred - Gotabaya was based at the Kachccheri building within walking distance of the Vijaya College army camp where disappearances occurred & where he was seen.

Just some of the many detention sites in the district then.

@JDSLanka "In at least one case, Mahinda Rajapaksa wrote in late 1989 to his brother, Gotabaya, to ask about the whereabouts of a supporter of his political party, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), who had been detained, but whose location had not been confirmed."

@JDSLanka Mrs Kamalawathi holding pictures of her 17 year
old son Rohana Nishantha & 18
year old Susantha Janaka both of whom disappeared - "Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa admitted my sons were in their custody &said that they will be released in 3-4 days. But they did not come back."

@JDSLanka A former detainee, held
at the Vijaya College army camp for eight days, also confirmed in a letter that Kamalawathi’s two sons were detained there.

@JDSLanka Gotabaya Rajapaksa was named by a later presidential commission of inquiry as an alleged suspect in a disappearance case (number 16 of 24 in Matale) & yet no action was taken.

@JDSLanka The legal section of the report argues the 2nd JVP Uprising was an Internal Armed Conflict - ie IHL applies, which means a universal jurisdiction case could be filed against Gotabaya abroad for his command responsibility role in 1989 disappearances in Matale.

@JDSLanka itjpsl.com/press-releases…

".. consider the gravity of the atrocities committed under his command within 8 months ..&the fact he was 30 years later elected to lead the entire country, this indicates a serious lack of historical literacy among the Sinhala masses.” says .@JDSLanka

@JDSLanka @threadreaderapp @UnrollHelper