Investigations should be made public: Amnesty

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 April 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Amnesty International, the human rights organisation said on April 23, that the Government of Sri Lanka should promptly make public and disseminate widely, the findings of an investigation into more than 700 "disappearances" reported in 1996 in Jaffna.

In a press release issued by the Amnesty's International Secretariat, the organisation called on the government to "also make public the action it intends to take to follow-up on the findings and recommendations of the investigation, and to bring to justice those found to be responsible for 'disappearances'".

"Amnesty International would welcome the resolution of any of these cases, which makes it all the more important that this information be released to the public as quickly as possible" said the statement.

Amnesty said that 'firm and prompt' action was needed by the Sri Lankan government to ensure that perpetrators of human rights violations are not able to enjoy impunity that the Sri Lankan government should invest adequate resources in investigation and prosecution.

Amnesty said that "the government must also ensure that witnesses of "disappearances" and relatives of the disappeared are able to participate in the legal process without fear of intimidation or reprisal."

Last year Amnesty said that over 600 Tamil civilians who 'disappeared' following arrest by the Sri Lankan security forces in Jaffna had died under torture or being deliberately killed in custody.

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