British video documentary probe to be part of Lankan war panel

Lakshman Wickramasinghe, the spokesman of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), today said the findings on the two videos would be incorporated in the final report that is schedule to be handed over to President Mahinda Rajapaksa by November 15.

The LLRC was appointed by Rajapaksa in May 2010 to look into the three decade old conflict with LTTE covering the period of February 2002 and May 2009.
The Channel 4 videos featured LTTE cadres being executed by Sri Lankan soldiers during the last stages of the conflict.

However, the Lankan government claimed the visuals in the video showed the execution of government soldiers by the LTTE.

The international community including the US, UK and the European Union have urged an independent investigation into the videos. Sri Lanka answered that LLRC was the forum to probe the videos.

Wickramasinghe also said that the LLRC had come under pressure from international forces to issue its report in time for the UN Human Rights Council.

The LLRC headed, by the former Attorney General C R de Silva, has toured the former conflict zones in the northern and eastern part of the country to interview victims.
Wickramasinghe said the commission was busy finalising its report as compilation of the summary of evidence had neared its end.

Sri Lanka has dismissed the doubts raised by the international human rights watch dogs such the Human Rights Watch on the credibility of the panel.