Canberra, Oct 18 (ANI): Australian police are reportedly examining a so-called "war crimes" dossier of information that claims to confirm that Sri Lankan forces bombed and shelled civilians during the country's civil war.
Activists have called on the Australian authorities to make use of laws that allow the police to charge people with war crimes for offences committed outside of the country, The Independent reports.
Just days ahead of a meeting in Perth of heads of Commonwealth nations, activists have claimed that information gathered from witnesses now living in Australia provides sufficient evidence for the authorities to act against those responsible for their misdeeds two years ago.
According to media reports, Sri Lanka's former naval chief, Thisara Samarasinghe, who is currently Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to Australia, is named in the dossier. He has denied any wrongdoing either by him or his forces.
"Those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity at the end of the Sri Lankan civil war in 2009 must not be allowed to go unpunished," John Dowd, president of the International Commission of Jurists, Australia (ICJA), said.
"Under Commonwealth law, there is ample possibility to prosecute these most serious offences here, where Australia has custody of a person and where immunity does not apply," he added.
An independent panel established by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon reported earlier this year that there was "credible evidence" that both the Sri Lankan forces and those of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had committed war crimes during the final stages of the fighting. (ANI)
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