[imc-presse] ECCHR press release: Germany, Switzerland and Vatican grant diplomatic protection to alleged war criminal Jagath Dias

[::ECCHR::]

(Die deutsche Pressemitteilung ist in der Anlage angefügt.)

(Version française en pièce jointe.)

 

 

Logo+Schriftzug02_ECCHR (2)

 

 

 

PRESSEMITTEILUNG / PRESS RELEASE / COMMUNIQUÉ DE PRESSE

 

Germany, Switzerland and Vatican grant diplomatic protection to alleged war
criminal Jagath Dias

ECCHR-Dossier confirms allegations against the Sri Lankan diplomat accused
of committing numerous war crimes. 

 

3 May 2011 ECCHR has today published a new dossier which substantiates
allegations of war crimes committed by the 57 Division of the Sri Lankan
Army under the command of Jagath Dias (available at www.ecchr.eu). Jagath
Dias was Major General of the Sri Lankan Army during the final offensive
against the rebel group Tamil Tigers (LTTE) in 2009. According to a recent
report by the United Nations, approximately 40.000 civilians died according
during this phase of the conflict. Since September 2009, Dias has been an
accredited diplomat in the Sri Lankan embassy in Berlin for Germany,
Switzerland and Vatican. 

 

In January 2011, ECCHR presented the detailed dossier to the German Federal
Foreign Office, and then jointly with the Society for Threatened Peoples and
TRIAL to the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and finally to the
Vatican in April 2011. On each occasion, ECCHR and its partner organizations
urged the countries to withdraw the diplomatic visa of Jagath Dias and to
declare him as a persona non grata. Meetings to discuss this matter were
proposed; but to date none have taken place. In spite of the grave
allegations of war crimes faced by Jagath Dias at the time of his
accreditation in 2009, he was issued diplomatic visas by the German, Swiss
and Vatican governments.

 

The now-released ECCHR-Dossier details numerous crimes committed by the 57
Division, focusing in particular on the targeted shelling of the civilian
population in no-fire zones, hospitals, humanitarian objects and religious
sites. The research is based on official Sri Lankan government sources,
numerous witness statements and reports by international NGOs. However, no
genuine investigations have been initiated. Just last week, a UN panel of
experts echoed two years of demands by international NGOs and called for
independent international investigations. ECCHR has supported the UN panel
by providing witness statements, a submission on sexual violence in armed
conflicts and a study on criminal accountability in Sri Lanka.

 

ECCHR program manager Andreas Schüller says: “The German and the Swiss
governments are now called upon to follow up the numerous and credible
allegations of grave crimes committed against civilians in the conflict zone
and to lift the diplomatic protection accorded to Jagath Dias.” 

 

Please contact for further information:

 

ECCHR, Andreas Schüller LL.M. (adv.), Program Manager Universal Justice,

Phone: +49 (0)30 40 60 58 38, E-Mail: schueller at ecchr.eu,

ECCHR on the conflict in Sri Lanka:
http://www.ecchr.de/index.php/sri-lanka.404.html

 

_____________________________________________________

 

ECCHR - European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights
Zossener Str. 55-58, Aufgang D
D-10961 BERLIN
Phone: +49(0)30 - 40 04 85 90 

Fax: +49(0)30 - 40 04 85 92
Mail:info at ECCHR.eu
 <http://www.ecchr.eu/> www.ECCHR.eu
Council: Michael Ratner, Lotte Leicht, Dieter Hummel, Christian Bommarius
General Secretary: Wolfgang Kaleck

 

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