Indonesian, Austrian to form the Panel of Experts

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 June 2010, 03:19 GMT]
An Indonesian and an Austrian are to form the panel of experts to advise UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on accountability issues relating to the last stages of the separatist war in May last year, according to Sunday Times.

One of the two members appointed to the Panel of Experts by the UN Secretary General Ban-Ki-Moon this week is identified as Maruzki Darusman, a former Attorney General of Indonesia.

He was a member of the now defunct International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) appointed by President Mahinda Rajapakse to observe proceedings of the Commission of Inquiry mandated to inquire to 16 cases of human rights violation including the killing of aid workers in Trincomalee.

The identity of other member from Austria is still not known, according to a news report carried by the Sunday Times.

Mr. Darusman had also served in a UN panel that had investigated the death of one time Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto who was assassinated during an election campaign.

The move, a prelude to a possible UN investigation into alleged war crimes, both by troops and Tiger guerrillas, is to be announced in New York in the coming week.