Did the British intelligence alert President of impending arrest warrant?

by Mohamed Samsudeen

(December 06, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) The British Tamil Forum (BTF) got into action to obtain an arrest warrant under Universal Jurisdiction laws against the President of Sri Lanka on war crimes charges. Sleepless nights of work of the determined legal representative of the BTF and a leading Queens Council come to the conclusion, instead to filing an arrest warrant against the President to file one against Major General Chagi Gallage who accompanied the President. Major General Chagi Gallage led the 57th Division of the army to finally crush the LTTE.

With the limited time available, disregarding that the President was on a private visit, the BTF legal experts decided to take the easy route by relying on the immunity granted to Head of State or Head of Government, senior cabinet members, Foreign Minister, and Minister for Defence.

They were guided by the Arrest Warrant Case, Pinochet Case (R v Bow Street Magistrates; ex parte Pinochet Ugarte (No 3) [2000] 1 AC 147, House of Lords). Such officers are considered immune from prosecution for everything they do during their time in office. For example, an English court held that a warrant could not be issued for the arrest of Robert Mugabe on charges of international crimes on the basis that he was a presently serving Head of State at the time the proceedings were brought.



In contrast, In December 2009 a court in London issued an arrest warrant for the Isreali Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in connection with accusations of war crimes in the Gaza Strip during Operation Cast Lead (2008–2009). The warrant was issued on 12 December and revoked on 14 December 2009 after it was revealed that Livni had not entered British territory. Similarly a January visit to Britain by a team of Israel Defense Force (IDF) was cancelled over fears that arrest warrants would be issued in connection with accusations of war crimes under laws of universal jurisdiction.



In order to avoid embroiling in controversy in the court, Major General Chagi Gallage was considered as an easy target. 420 pages of documents with witnesses account were put together for an arrest warrant against the Major General. By the evening of 2 (Tuesday) December 2010, the senior Queens Council Manjith Singh was ready to file an interim order in the High Court next day to arrest the Major General.



The news soon leaked through the intelligence sources to the President on his return to the Dorchester Hotel, following his speech at the Sri Lanka High Commission to his holy worshipping converts.



The Sunday Leader (5/12) said it all about the hullabaloo in its investigative article titled ‘Chaos In London Marks P.R. Disaster’ by Watsala: ‘The President ordered that the military personnel be returned to Colombo but was immediately struck down by those very men who made it clear that they were most definitely not leaving “Sir” and going back. Confronted with this brand of loyalty the President decided to immediately return to Sri Lanka – and a hurried check-out was made. The President’s security personnel – police and army – were so rushed that transport was not immediately available. Therefore, a luggage room, No. 740 at the Dorchester was used to store all the bags.

‘The aircraft that had brought Lalith Weeratunga to London had been kept back in London – to be on stand-by after the Oxford Union cancelled their invitation. It was this aircraft that was utilized by the Presidential entourage as well as regular passengers flying SriLankan from London.’

The application for Interim Order for the arrest warrant was filed at the High Court on 3rd December. After relative delays, the case came before the Judge. The presiding judge made inquires with the Scotland Yard to find the whereabouts of the accused Major General Chagi Gallage. He was confirmed that the Major General with the President & Co had left the country last night. In the Major Generals absence in the territory the case was dismissed by the judge.

The BTF effort has established that future is not going to be easy for the President and his men in the European Union countries, USA, Canada, Australia and many other states. Though criticisms were leveled against the BTF for the delay in filing the case, they are not being scathed for the very reason that the President had ran away leaving behind his bags and baggage in the waiting AL507. This has boosted the BTF tremendously.