The Sri Lankan government has reportedly approved new laws that will grant the intelligence services “impunity”, as it ramps up its policy of protecting those accused of rights abuses.
JDS Lanka quotes government spokesperson Bandula Gunawardena telling journalists in Colombo that the current regime would ensure Sri Lankan soldiers would not be subject to prosecution and that the cabinet has approved to draft an act “in order to stop such things happening in future, to safeguard their official responsibilities, to grant them impunity, to give intelligence services legal powers and to deliver their national duties”.
The new law is set to be named the ‘National Intelligence Act’ and follows on from previous legislation Sri Lanka has enacted in order to protect members of the security forces from legal action.
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News of the act comes as Sri Lanka’s defence ministry was recently granted control of the government’s immigration department, bringing a total of 31 state institutions under its purview.
