A Canadian court has found a former Sri Lankan naval officer not eligible for asylum because the Sri Lankan Navy was complicit in war crimes.
The claimant “had been complicit in the crimes against humanity because he had a long service with the navy, an organization that was known to regularly and systematically commit human rights abuses against the LTTE, the Tamil population and individuals suspected or perceived to be LTTE collaborators or sympathizers,” the Immigration Review Board found.
Justice John O’Keefe ruled that the evidence supported “a finding that the navy and security forces’ acts were part of a widespread or systematic attack”.
Nadarajah Kuruparan was Commodore of the Sri Lanka Navy, third in rank behind the Admiral, when he retired in June 2009. He sought asylum at the Canadian border in August 2009. Kuruparan was one of only five Tamils in the Sri Lankan Navy, the National Post in Canada reported.
