Sirisena rejects foreign judges says minister 

Sri Lanka's state minister of finance, Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene this week reiterated that the president, Maithripala Sirisena rejected the inclusion of foreign judges in any probe and under no circumstances would the government target 'war heroes' for war crimes charges. 

“President Sirisena and the government have full confidence in our judiciary, legal process and judges. We have extremely eminent and experienced judges and our judges have served in various countries and global organizations that have given much credit to the country," he was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying. 

“The government under no circumstances will target war heroes, field commanders of the three armed forces or the political leadership for war crime charges or haul them before a court or tribunal. But we have to deal with those if there are any, who have violated the International Humanitarian Law on an individual level."

"Sri Lanka expects to submit a progress report to the UNHRC in March and explain the measures take by the unity government to promote reconciliation, rule of law, inter communal harmony and strengthen democratic institutions and the concept of good governance," he added. 

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