Pirabakaran’s death ‘war crime?’

by Kanapathipillai Thambirajah

(May 22, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) According to Tamil sources who are close to the government and who flew to Sri Lanka in the first available flight following the defeat of the LTTE two years ago, confirm that they have watched the video footages of Pirabakaran’s final moments.

They state that the LTTE leader surrendered to the army and was taken into captivity. The video footage confirmed Pirabakaran’s surrender and how he was made to worship the foot of a senior army official.

Immediately following this, he was kicked and beaten, and an army officer chopped his head with an axe. There was further boot kicking by the soldiers following the chop on his head.

One source claimed ‘it was horrifying to see the end of Pirabakaran in this manner’.

The government of Sri Lanka has not released this video public, and the Defence Ministry is using it as a tool to appease the very trusted people specially those Tamils who were opposed to the LTTE.

Will the UN treat this as war crime on a capitulating leader and call upon the Sri Lanka government to submit this incriminating evidence in its investigation?