Mahinda Rajapaksa brother slams UN probe

Stepping up opposition to a UN-backed probe into alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka, former defence minister Gotabhaya Rajapaksa Monday denounced the UN human rights chief’s visit to the country as a “big joke” and accused him of trying to please the pro-LTTE diaspora.

“He can’t come here for a day and expect to understand the situation. He is only meeting one side...It (the visit) is a big joke,” Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the brother of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, said on UN high commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein’s visit. “He meets pre-arranged people and talks to them to please the pro-LTTE diaspora,” Mr Rajapaksa said while signing a million signature public petition to safeguard the Sri Lankan soldiers from a possible war crimes investigation. Mr Al Hussein is here on a four-day visit to assess the country’s progress in investigating war-time atrocities. He will deliver an assessment to the UN Human Rights Council in March. The Opposition says the motive of the UN rights chief’s visit is to try the soldiers in an international court.