As Sri Lanka's Defence Attaché tenure comes to an end, calls for his arrest continue to mount

by Viruben
Dec 19, 2020

Brigadier Swarna Bothota is standing on the left and Kapila de Alwis, President of SLESPA is on the right

As Sri Lanka’s UK-based Ex-Service Persons Associations (SLESPA-UK) recently congratulated war criminal and Sri Lankan defence attaché, Brigadier Swarna Bothota, on the ending of his tenure in office, Tamil diaspora activists continue to call for his arrest.

The service held by the SLESPA-UK follows repeated calls the British Tamil diaspora for the UK to consider Bothota as a ‘persona non grata’ and to arrested for atrocity crimes and genocide. Bothota has been accused of being directly involved in gross human rights violations in the North-East during the final years of the armed conflict.

More recently the Tamil diaspora has called on the UK Foreign Office to clarify their vetting process and to curtail his Bothota’s diplomatic visa so that the Metropolitan police may arrest and investigate him for human rights violations. 

These calls follow a US travel ban imposed upon the head of the Sri Lankan army, Shavendra Silva, and the launching of a war crimes investigation into British crimes committed in Sri Lanka by the British mercenary organisation known as Keenie Meanie Services.

 

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