Sri Lankan Leader will be admitting the responsibility of the killings of civilians if he does not respond to the summons issued by a US court seeking compensation by three Tamil victims, their lawyer says.
Bruce Fein, the attorney for the petitioners told BBC Sinhala service that if Sri Lankan Leader, Mahinda Rajapaksa does not respond then a default judgement will be entered against him.
“We will try to prove damages, it does not mean it will be easy to collect but if he has got any property in the US we can levy on it, if he has got property elsewhere outside Sri Lanka we could,” he said.
A court in the US has issued summons on Sri Lankan Leader in connection with three civil cases filed under the Hague Convention over alleged extra-judicial killings.
Truth commission
The summons on the Sri Lankan Leader has been served on the justice ministry secretary under The Hague Convention, to which the US and Sri Lanka are signatories.
Justice ministry acknowledged the receipt of the summons.
The cases were filed by the relatives of murdered medical student Ragihar Manoharan, Action Against Hunger aid worker Premas Anandarajah, and T Thavaraja under US Torture Victims Protection Act (TVPA) over alleged extra-judicial killings.
The petitioners were seeking US$30 million as damages on six counts of violating the TVPA.
The Sri Lankan regime leader in his capacity as the commander in chief of Sri Lanka’s armed forces will have to face consequences if they decide not to respond, according to Mr Fein.
“It will be I think a very important signal that the civil war was on the Sinhalese side was conducted with brutality because his refusal to respond will be a tacit confession that he did exercise command responsibilities over these killings of civilians,” he told BBC Sandeshaya.
“And that would be an important moral step I think in setting the framework for a post-war Truth and Reconciliation Commission to hold people accountable for the misconduct on both sides,” added Bruce Fein.
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