Sanjeewa Wijesinghe MITCL, LL.B, BBUS
Legal Advisor, International Affairs

Vinayagmoorthy Muralitharan, commonly known as Karuna Amman or Col.” Karuna, who was facing allegations of war crimes was  released on 9th of May after serving three months for immigration offence. Karuna, his wife and children were transferred to a Home Detention centre in London late last week.  

Last year Karuna was detained for entering Britain illegally using a diplomatic passport that reportedly described him as the “director-general of wildlife conservation”. He allegedly claimed he had come to attend a climate change conference. The Metropolitan police and immigration authorities arrested him in London late last year and he pleaded guilty before a magistrate. Karuna was sentenced to nine months in prison for holding false identity documents.

Karuna’s arrest raised concerns within many international Human Rights Groups indicating that he should be investigated for alleged war crimes. Amnesty International claims that Karuna’s is suspected of torture, killing hundreds of civilians, hostage taking and forcing teenagers to serve as child soldiers in Sri Lanka. In its latest press release Amnesty International said there was insufficient evidence to prosecute Karuna for war crimes, but the group fears potential witnesses were not encouraged to come forward.
Kate Allen, director of Amnesty International UK, said: "The police and the Crown Prosecution Service must make every effort to encourage anyone with information about any such crimes to come forward with evidence, by providing them with effective guarantees of their security. Without such assurances witnesses may be reluctant to relay information about alleged crimes that the UK authorities are obliged to investigate.”

Early last year, Britain’s Foreign Office Minister Kim Howells told MPs that the government believed “Col.” Karuna and his group were “responsible for extra-judicial killings, abductions, intimidation of displaced persons and child recruitment.  Rights activists allege that his group has also been involved in murders, torture and abductions, and claim that there is a case for investigating these allegations.

Karuna was a leader of the Tamil Tigers before forming his own splinter group, People's Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (TMVP) Karuna and his group the TMVP now under new leadership deny abuse claims and say they are fighting to liberate ethnic Tamils from the clutches of the Tigers, banned as terrorists in Britain, Europe, North America and India.

Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said there was insufficient evidence to prosecute Karuna for any other offences. Karuna is facing deportation from the UK.