Gotabhaya denies war crimes, criticises calls for accountability

Ex-defense minister and brother of the former President, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, denied allegations of war crimes against him and hinted a possible entry into Sri Lanka politics.
The Criminal Investigations Department told Sri Lankan courts last week that the former defense minister ran ‘top secret death squads,’ which was responsible for the assassination of political opponents and journalists.
Gotabhaya Rajapaksa denied such claims stating that, “a lot of things happened without my knowledge,” and that he was working on a “policy and strategy level and not on things at the tactical level”.
In addition, he disagreed with UN statistics on civilian deaths during the war – “there is no clarity on the actual number of casualties,” he stated. He also commented on the ongoing protests by families of the disappeared in the North-East – stating that “harping on” such issues would not help bring communities together.
He commented that he has not yet decided on entering politics, although his supporters have suggested the idea of his presidential candidacy in 2020.