Dismal failure of the judiciary ends up with people’s demand for hybrid justice mechanism    

Featured image courtesy AsianTribune

• by Nagananda Kodituwakku 
• - on 01/31/2016 

In the co-sponsored UN Resolution (A/HRC/RES/30/1) adopted on 01st October 2015, the government conceded that that people of Sri Lanka have no trust and confidence in the justice system and was compelled to agree for a hybrid justice system with an international dimension, to try alleged serious crimes committed against humanity.

However at a recent BBC interview President Sirisena vehemently refused to set up such a hybrid system and now the former Justice Minster GL Peiris says that the President Sirisena has not been properly briefed on the content of the Geneva Resolution. This is a baseless argument, that effectively undermines President Sirisena’s ‘wisdom and knowledge’ as the executive head of the State.

Then Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe, in a damage-minimising exercise, conceded to BBC Channel 4 that the government would respect its obligations under the Geneva Resolution.

However, the Daily Mirror on 28th Jan 2016 reported a contradictory speech made by the Prime Minister in the parliament, which states as follows, “… He had stated that he had never told such a thing during the interview he gave to Channel Four…” exposing the total lack of integrity in the government business and raising concerns in the international community.

Rights groups express concerns

In this backdrop Prof. Savitri Gunasekera, representing the Friday Forum, a pressure group, issued a statement on 29th Jan 2016, justifying an independent and credible inquiry process, and stressing that ‘the joint resolution is a reminder that truth-seeking and justice, however complex, ensure social integration, and that their absence is detrimental to civic order and the rule of law and that the citizens must support efforts to establish an impartial inquiry process, to probe the events’.

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