Sri Lanka's army chief came under fire Wednesday after apparently endorsing Gotabhaya Rajapakse for next month's presidential election, a day after the front-running candidate vowed to scrap a UN-sanctioned probe into alleged war crimes.

The November 16 elections have revived debate about the end of a long-running bloody separatist conflict, with army troops accused of massacring up to 40,000 civilians in 2009 while crushing Tamil Tigers rebels.

The Election Commission said it wanted Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva to explain his appearance in full-page newspaper advertisements supporting Rajapakse, who was defence secretary at the time of the alleged atrocities.

The advertisements quoted Silva as saying Rajapakse was "extremely efficient" and "addressed the urgent need of the security forces... during the final stages of the conflict".

"It is an election law violation for a serving military officer to endorse a candidate and engage in political activity," Election Commission Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya said.

Silva could face up to three years in jail and a fine over the advertisements.

Rajapakse's campaign team denied being behind the adverts, although they appeared with party colours in a newspaper that openly supports him.

There was no immediate comment from Silva.

Rajapakse said Tuesday that if elected he would not honour commitments made to the UN by a previous government to investigate alleged atrocities committed while he was defence secretary during his brother Mahinda Rajapakse's decade as president.

At that time, Silva was a brigadier leading attacks against the rebels, and was known to be closely associated with the Rajapakses.

Silva's appointment in August sparked international outrage because of his links to alleged war crimes, and the UN suspended the recruitment of Sri Lankan troops for peacekeeping duties.

Related Links
Democracy in the 21st century at TerraDaily.com

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The Space Media Network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceMediaNetwork Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceMediaNetwork Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Fresh protests in Spain over Catalan sentence
Barcelona (AFP) Oct 15, 2019
Catalan separatists on Tuesday blocked streets and train tracks in protest against Spain's jailing of nine of their leaders, as the Spanish government hit out at what it called "generalised violence" a day after activists stormed Barcelona airport. Pro-independence groups staged sit-ins outside Spanish government offices in a number of Catalan cities late Tuesday, with around 40,000 people taking part in Barcelona and 9,000 in the separatist stronghold of Girona, according to municipal and regional ... read more