Congressman urges Holder to review Gotabaya, Fonseka genocide indictment

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 August 2009, 15:01 GMT]
United States Congressman G.K. Butterfield, who represents North Caronlina's first district, in a letter addressed to the U.S. Attorney General (AG), Eric Holder, referred to the model indictment submitted by the US-activist group, Tamils Against Genocide (TAG), charging Sri Lanka's Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse and former Sri Lanka Army Commander Lt.Gen. Fonseka of crimes against humanity, and urged the AG to "investigate the charges of violations of the Genocide Accountability Act of 2007 and the War Crimes Act related to atrocities against the Tamils in northern Sri Lanka." The indictment details allegations of the efforts to destroy the Tamil people of northern Sri Lanka through atrocities and genocide, and chronicles more than 3,750 extrajudicial killings, approximately 30,000 Tamils suffering serious bodily injury and more than 1.3 million civilian displacements.

Full text of the letter to Attorney General Eric Holder follows:

The Honorable Eric H. Holder
United States Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington D.C.

Dear Attorney General Holder:

I am writing to respectfully urge you to investigate the charges of violations of the Genocide Accountability Act of 2007 and the War Crimes Act related to atrocities against the Tamils in northern Sri Lanka.

Earlier this year, Tamils Against Genocide provided the Department with a three-volume, 1,000-page proposed indictment against Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka's Defense Secretary and the brother of Sri Lanka's Preseident Mahinda Rajapaksa, Basil Rajapaksa, senior Presidential Adviser and the brother of President Rajapaksa, and Sri Lankan Army COmmander Sarath Fonseka. All three men are either U.S. citizens or hold U.S. green cards.

The model indictment details the allegations of the efforts to destroy the Tamil people of northern Sri Lanka through atrocities and genocide. The indictment chronicles more than 3,750 extrajudicial killings, approximately 30,000 Tamils suffering serious bodily injury and more than 1.3 million civilian displacements. In the month of January 2009 alone, according to the model indictment, 750 Tamil civilians were massacred and more than 2,250 were seriously injured.

The model indictment relies on evidence obtained from affidavits, court documents and eyewitness reporting from credible media sources, such as the British Broadcasting Corporation. They provide information showing that at least one million people have suffered from starvation, deprivation of medicine and displacement due to the ongoing hostilities in Sri Lanka, and the accused men may have played direct and central roles.

Thank you for your attention to this urgent and important matter.

Very truely yours,

G.K. Butterfield
Member of Congress

Chronology:


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