Members of Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority on Friday filed a lawsuit in the US against Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, seeking US$30 million in damages over alleged extrajudicial killings.
Activists from the Tamil diaspora spearheaded legal action after Rajapakse quietly traveled to the US, in a test of how much deference US authorities show to visiting heads of state.
Bruce Fein, a prominent Washington lawyer, said he filed the suit on behalf of three plaintiffs under a 1991 act that allows for action in the US against foreign officials for torture and extrajudicial killings.
“President Rajapakse will not escape the long arm of justice secured by the Torture Victims Protection Act by hiding in Sri Lanka,” Fein said after the filing in the US District Court in Washington.
Fein said he wanted a reply from Rajapakse and otherwise would seek a ruling without him.
The lawsuit seeks US$30 million on behalf of three plaintiffs, who said their relatives were killed in three incidents, including the Sri Lankan army’s offensive in 2009 against the final holdout of the Tamil Tiger (LTTE) rebels.
The UN has said at least 7,000 civilians perished in the final months of fighting, while international rights groups have put the toll at more than 30,000.
Sri Lanka has denied any civilian deaths and has rejected calls for an international probe. The Tigers were known for devastating suicide bombings during their decades-long campaign for a separate Tamil homeland.
The Sri Lankan embassy in Washington declined comment, but in Colombo, a spokesman for Rajapakse dismissed the action as a publicity stunt.
“We have no time for mercenaries funded by the LTTE who want media attention,” said Bandula Jayasekera, the director-general of the president’s media unit and Rajapakse’s spokesman.
Rajapakse’s office earlier dismissed as “frivolous and mischievous” a call by Amnesty International for the US to investigate the head of state during his trip.
Rajapakse came to the US last week on what Sri Lankan officials called a private visit. Tamil diaspora groups, which strongly oppose Rajapakse, said they believed he was visiting family in Texas, but has since left.
A US-based activist group calling itself Tamils Against Genocide, which is leading the suit, said in a statement it was “alarmed and disappointed” that US authorities allowed Rajapakse to visit without questions on his actions.
The group said it was testing the law in the wake of the Samantar decision in June last year by the US Supreme Court, which found that countries — not individuals — enjoyed diplomatic immunity from lawsuits in the US.
In the case, the top US court ruled unanimously that former Somali prime minister Mohamed Ali Samantar, who now lives in the US, may be sued over alleged torture.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese