Colombo: Allegations that Sri Lankan troops committed war crimes are "credible", a judge appointed by the island's former president has concluded in a report presented to parliament on Tuesday.
The findings mark the first time a domestic inquiry has said there is evidence the army committed war crimes, and are all the more remarkable given that the report was commissioned by Mahinda Rajapakse.
Sri Lanka's former strongman leader oversaw the final push against Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009 before losing power in January, and has always fiercely denied his troops committed war crimes.
He ordered the inquiry in 2013 in a bid to deflect mounting international censure, and the new government made the findings public in line with a promise to the UN Human Rights Council last month.
A long-awaited report from the United Nations human rights office last month laid bare horrific wartime atrocities committed by both the army and the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in the bitter 37-year war.
"There are credible allegations which, if proved to the required standard, may show that some members of the armed forces committed acts during the final phase of the war that amounted to war crimes giving rise to individual criminal responsibility," said the 178-page report presented to parliament on Tuesday.
The government of Rajapakse's successor, Maithripala Sirisena, has vowed to punish war criminals and set up a truth commission and a reparations office to help heal the wounds left by the conflict.
But it has resisted pressure to allow a foreign inquiry, which many members of the island's Sinhalese majority consider an infringement of sovereignty.
The latest inquiry was overseen by retired judge Maxwell Paranagama and examined claims in a documentary broadcast by Britain's Channel 4 that purportedly showed Sri Lankan soldiers executing Tamil prisoners.
AFP
