Pivithuru Hela Urumaya leader Udaya Gammanpila said that the legal system of Sri Lanka does not prohibit a special hybrid court from being established to investigate an internal matter of the country.

Speaking to Asian Mirror on Wednesday (16), he said that despite this being the case, the government does not have a mandate to introduce such a tribunal.

The government came to power, promising that a local mechanism will be instituted. As such the government cannot let a hybrid system to be implemented, he said.

Meanwhile, Gammanpila said that he will be introducing an Indemnity Bill to release the armed forces personnel from any accusations on what they did in good faith, in carrying out their duty. According to a judgment made by former Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva, when there is a clash between international law and internal law of the country, priority should be given to the local law, he elaborated. Therefore if the Indemnity Bill passes, then the proposed hybrid court will not be able to probe in to alleged war crimes, he asserted.

The United Nations today called on Sri Lanka to set up a special court, including international judges and lawyers, to investigate what it called “horrific” abuses committed by both sides during the country’s civil war.

Releasing the Office of the High Commissioner's Investigation Committee on Sri Lanka (OISL) report, the UN Human Rights Chief said that a purely domestic mechanism cannot be trusted due to decades of violation of human rights.