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Rights groups file complaint against Sri Lanka diplomat

Two rights groups said Thursday they have brought to Swiss authorities a criminal complaint against a Sri Lankan diplomat and former general, Jagath Dias, over alleged war crimes.

Published: 5 August 2011 11:17 CEST

The Swiss attorney-general’s office confirmed that it has received the complaint filed by the Society for Threatened Peoples and TRIAL (Track Impunity Always) and that it was examining the case.

Dias is the deputy ambassador at Sri Lanka’s embassy in Berlin, which also handles diplomatic relations with Switzerland and the Vatican.

The two groups claimed that “there are numerous indications that war crimes were committed” by the 57th division commanded by Dias in the Sri Lankan army’s final offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels.

“In particular, during this time, the troops of Jagath Dias carried out massive bombings of civilians and hospitals,” the groups claimed.

“The organizations hope that the criminal complaint will result in the arrest of Jagath Dias the next time he travels to Switzerland and a judicial inquiry into the allegations against him will be undertaken,” they said.

The rights groups also called on the Swiss Foreign Ministry to declare Dias a “persona non-grata”, and said they understood that the ministry had already taken certain measures although it was unclear what these were.

When contacted, the ministry told AFP that it was unable to divulge the action taken due to diplomatic confidentiality.

Nevertheless, it said it was “aware of the allegations against the mentioned person.”

“The Department of Foreign Affairs is paying great attention to this case. Many discussions have been held on this subject with the Sri Lankan authorities,” it added.

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Germany's first Isis war crimes trial starts in Frankfurt

Photo: DPA

At the first trial in Germany for war crimes committed in Syria's five-year-old war, Aria Ladjedvardi, 21, told the court he “didn't want to be in” the incriminating pictures, and that he “could not imagine that they would be circulated on social media”.

Prosecutors have accused Ladjedvardi of a war crime as he had treated the unidentified victims “in a degrading and humiliating manner”.

The photographs in which Ladjedvardi appears were taken in the spring of 2014 and posted on Facebook. Federal prosecutors believe he and two fellow fighters took the pictures to belittle their victims, whom they considered infidels or non-believers.

They also believe that Ladjedvardin, a German of Iranian origin, travelled to Syria in early 2014 to join one of the jihadist groups engaged in the fight against President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

But Ladjedvardi, who risks at least one year in prison, contested the claims at the opening of his trial in Frankfurt, arguing that he was in Syria to help victims of Assad's regime.

'Not a jihadist'

According to Ladjedvardi, villagers in the province of Idlib were alerted to the gruesome scene of the severed heads by a child.

A crowd swiftly gathered around the macabre sight, and several people began posing for photos, he said.

Ladjevardi, who was the only foreigner in the group, said he was then forced to pose for a picture too.

“We were in a war zone… I did what I was required to do in the situation,” he told the court, speaking rapidly and with nervous gestures.

Ladjevardi then justified his trip to Syria, saying “I wanted to help the people”.

Although he said he had become more religious before his departure for Syria, Ladjedvardi denied being part of any jihadist groups.

Instead, Islam and sports helped him turn around his life, he said, after a youth marred by alcohol and cannabis abuse as well as delinquency.

Through Facebook, he contacted an acquaintance who had left for Syria and subsequently helped Ladjevardi in his journey there.

He admitted that he was given training in weapons usage, but insisted he was not part of any jihadist group and had no contact with jihadists throughout his trip to Syria.

The prosecution has been unable to determine which group trained the accused in weapons handling. Neither was it able to establish the identities of the beheaded victims and on which side of Syria's warring parties they belonged.

Refugee influx

Ladjevardi was arrested in October 2015 in the Frankfurt region, after police raided his apartment. He has been in custody ever since.

German federal prosecutors are currently investigating 10 cases of alleged atrocities in Syria or Iraq, along with more than 30 cases of suspected membership of a terrorist group involving jihadists returning from the Middle East.

The investigations have gained momentum with the arrival last year of over a million asylum seekers, about 40 percent of whom fled the wars in Syria and Iraq.

Authorities dealing with their asylum requests have picked up and forwarded on average 25 to 30 tip-offs a day to prosecutors, in line with a German requirement that asylum applicants provide information on any war crimes they may have witnessed.

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