Human Rights Watch (HRW) issuing a statement on March 27 said that Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s pardon of a soldier convicted of massacring eight civilians, including children, shows the administration’s disregard for justice for the worst abuses, reports Colombo Page. “The conviction of former Sgt. Sunil Ratnayake had been one of the very few cases of security force personnel being criminally punished for civil war-era atrocities, despite the huge number of credible and extremely serious allegations,” the HRW said. Ratnayake, who was pardoned on March 26 was found guilty in 2015 of killing eight civilians, including a 5-year-old, at Mirusuvil, in northern Sri Lanka, in 2000. The bodies of the victims showed signs of torture. The conviction had been upheld by Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on March 27 said that it was 'troubled' by the reports of the release of former staff sergeant R.M. Sunil Ratnayake on a special Presidential pardon, reports Daily Mirror. "We are troubled by the reports that the convicted 'perpetrator of the Mirusuvil massacre, in Sri Lanka, has received a Presidential Pardon and was released from jail this week," Spokesperson for the OHCHR, Rupert Colville said. He further said former Army Sergeant Sunil Ratnayake was sentenced in 2015 for the murder in 2000 of eight civilians, including a five-year-old child, after more than a decade long trial. Five defendants were brought to trial but only Sgt Ratnayake was convicted. The conviction was confirmed by the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka in May 2019.