Deportation of Sri Lankan angers human rights group

Vinayagamoorthi Muralithara, who also goes by the name of Karuna was deported by the United Kingdom on immigration charges. The move sparked outrage from human rights organization Amnesty International.

In Sri Lanka Karuna, who is the leader of the Tamileel Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal, has been accused of war crimes including crimes against humanity. The accusations had been under investigation by the UK government who claimed jurisdiction over several of the offenses including torture and hostage taking.

Amenesty International said in a statement that "The deportation of Karuna now means that the investigation by the UK authorities into these allegations has come to an end. Karuna is entitled to be presumed innocent, until and unless guilt can be proved beyond reasonable doubt in a fair trial. We will, however, be writing to the authorities of Sri Lanka to ask for an investigation to be started there into these allegations. We are also concerned that the investigation collapsed because the UK government did not dedicate the necessary resources to it and did not sufficiently reassure the victims or their relatives of their safety under a witness protection programme."

The group also went on to say that "We have expressed our concerns to the Metropolitan Police that not enough may have been done to protect witnesses, and reassure potential witnesses, as they conducted their investigation. We would like to see the UK authorities introduce new measures in the future to try war criminals and protect witnesses."

www.amnesty.org