Head of State immunity saves Rajapakse from war-crimes charges

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 March 2012, 12:42 GMT]
Noting that "two centuries of case law and basic constitutional and statutory principles prevent this court from allowing the plaintiffs' complaint to move forward at this time,'' District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly Wednesday, in the ruling on the case against Sri Lanka's President Rajapakse on war crime charges filed by three Tamil plaintiffs, said she had to dismiss the suit against President Rajapaksa because the Obama administration had said he was immune from litigation as a foreign head of state.

"The court does not take this step lightly,'' Kotelly's opinion pointed out, adding "[t]he plaintiffs' complaint contains shocking allegations of human rights abuses."

The complaint for this case (alleges multiple violations of the Torture Victims Protection Act (TVPA) based on Sri Lanka's President Rajapaksa’s command responsibility for the extrajudicial killings of Ragihar Manoharan, the son of Plaintiff Dr. Kasippillai Manoharan, of Premas Anandarajah, a humanitarian aid worker for Action Against Hunger, and husband of Plaintiff Kalaiselvi Lavan, and four members of the Thevarajah family, all relatives of Plaintiff Jeyakumar Aiyathurai.

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External Links:

BBC:		US court dismisses lawsuit against Sri Lanka president
ABC:		Judge Tosses Case Against Sri Lanka's President