Foreign participation does not amount to foreign judges: Mangala

In an interview with the BBC Sinhala service, Foreign Minister Samaraweera cleared the air on the President’s statement last week, in which he had reiterated there would be no foreign judges involved in a Sri Lankan judicial process:‘As long as I am the President of this country, I will not allow for any international courts, international judges and international organisations to interfere with the internal affairs of Sri Lanka and the judiciary,’ President Sirisena had said.

The Foreign Minister, at the 32nd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva last month, made the assurance that Sri Lanka would set up a judicial mechanism with international assistance: ‘...we have strategies and plans to deal with the more serious and controversial issue of setting up a judicial mechanism with international assistance. Sri Lanka is no stranger to international assistance and participation..’, the Foreign Minister said. In the interview with BBC Sinhala service journalist Azam Ameen Samaraweera explained: “In our election manifesto, we clearly talked about a domestic inquiry mechanism. We are in the process of setting it up.” “But, there can be foreign participation. Foreign participation is not something alien to Sri Lanka. When we do not have expertise in certain areas, we need to seek the assistance of foreign parties - that does not mean we have to include foreign judges in the process.” “For instance,” he explained, “during the inquiry into the death of former Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, we sought the assistance of foreign parties. It gave validity to our efforts.”