Early last year I set about examining, as a recent graduate, the feasibility of any citizen of Sri Lanka being tried in the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity that were committed in the last phases of the war between the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE. I concluded that there is no real danger of any case being brought against the members of Sri Lankan Military or the current administration. Such fears are simply unfounded. I wish to revisit the question of if in fact any citizen in Sri Lanka can be held accountable under the ICC within the current context.
There has been much discussion about the issue of war crimes in Sri Lanka in the past week. The current government and all major political parties have recently commented at many capacities on United Nations panel investigations and its leaked report. Since many commentators have written, and talked exhaustedly about whether any such crimes were committed by the GoSL and the LTTE, this article will not speculate on any of the alleged accusations or its validity. It will simply pose the question of if, in fact, Sri Lanka is in danger of being held accountable by the International Criminal Court under the present context.