President Appoints International Panel of Experts to Advise Missing Persons Commission
President Mahinda Rajapaksa has broadened the scope of the mandate of the Presidential Commission to Investigate into Complaints Regarding Missing Persons and appointed a three-member international panel of experts to advise the Commission.
The enhanced mandate of the Commission, issued by Proclamation by the President of Sri Lanka, and published under Gazette Notification 1871/18 dated July 15, 2014, seeks to, inter alia, inquire into and report on several matters contained under paragraph 4.359 of the Report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), which the Commission has deemed as requiring further inquiry.
The President has appointed the following three eminent persons of international repute to serve on an Advisory Council to the Commission of Inquiry:
- Rt. Hon. Sir Desmond de Silva, QC (Chairman)
- Sir Geoffrey Nice, QC
- Prof. David Crane
The Advisory Council will advise the Commission, at their request, and may include other experts appointed by the President as and when necessary.
The three-member Commission, comprising Mr. Maxwell Parakrama Paranagama (Chairman), Mrs. Suranjana Vidyaratne and Mrs. Mano Ramanathan, was appointed in August 2013 and has been given the authority to conduct inquiries and investigations into complaints of missing persons, and submit a report to the President. In February of this year, President Rajapaksa extended the mandate of the Commission by six months to August 12, 2014.
(President Media / LLRC Action)
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The terms of reference of these advisers should be made public.
Already, one of the eminent advisers have denied this appointment in public in a large circulation western newspaper. He claims he is unaware of being appointed.