Initiative by three leading press freedom groups

In an unprecedented effort to achieve justice for the killing of journalists, three leading press freedom groups have established a People’s Tribunal to investigate their murders and hold governments accountable.

(This initiative is funded by the Dutch Post Code Lottery, a big funder considered very credible in the Dutch perspective. Wickrematunge’s daughter, Ahimsa, who has been seeking justice for her father for many years welcomed the development in a tweet – Sunday Island)

The Tribunal, a form of grassroots justice, relies on investigations and high quality legal analysis involving specific cases in three countries. An opening hearing will be held on November 2 in The Hague.

In a major push towards justice, leading press freedom organisations Free Press Unlimited (FPU), Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), requested the Permanent People’s Tribunal to convene a People’s Tribunal on the Murder of Journalists.

People’s Tribunals are designed to hold states accountable for violations of international law by building public awareness and generating a legitimate evidence record, and play an important role in empowering victims and recording their stories.

The People’s Tribunal on the Murder of Journalists, will indict the governments of Sri Lanka, Mexico and Syria for failing to deliver justice for the murders of Lasantha Wickrematunge, Miguel Ángel López Velasco, and Nabil Al-Sharbaji.

Renowned human rights lawyer Almudena Bernabeu will lead the prosecution for the opening hearing. A keynote address will be delivered by Baroness Helena Kennedy of the Shaws QC, member of the High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom.

Key witnesses delivering testimonies include: prominent Filipino journalist Maria Ressa, Hatice Cengiz, academic and fiancée of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi who was murdered in 2018, Matthew Caruana Galizia, journalist and son of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia who was murdered in 2017, and Pavla Holcová, investigative journalist and colleague of Slovak journalist Ján Kuciak, murdered in 2018. (Colombo Gazette)

A Sunday Island reporter adds: While it was not possible to find out the composition of the People’s Tribunal, credible sources overseas said that while it is “backed by several group who are credible, it is unofficial and this is the route taken by many human rights groups these days.”

The source also said they have picked a prosecutor with a strong background in doing “issues but not cases of this kind”.

“In general these tribunals are considered a method for “publishing” the evidence – once the evidence is placed on record, even unofficially, it becomes difficult to circumvent later.

“Also, the “findings” of the tribunal sometimes becomes more powerful and can be used for seeking individual bi-lateral sanctions, or even multi-lateral depending on the level of evidence.”

The source made the further point that from a lawyer point of view, the most interesting was the use of a finding of a similar tribunal on Iran in a prosecution of an Iranian official many years after the event.