|
|
|
Wednesday, April 20, 2011 - 4.46 GMT |
|
MV Sun Sea migrant may have taken part in
shooting soldiers, hearing told |
|
|
|
The Immigration and Refugee Board is probing whether a Tamil migrant who arrived in Canada last summer on the MV Sun Sea may have had a role in the shooting of dozens of detained Sri Lankan army soldiers at the end of a battle.
Though the migrant testified that he didn’t take part in the shooting, a key question arose about whether he may have directed subordinates to do so, the Montreal Gazette reported.
The migrant's lawyer has conceded that he was a member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a group considered a terrorist organization and banned in Canada.
The man in question is one of two Sun Sea migrants who have been accused of engaging in war crimes and who face possible deportation if the allegations are found to be true.
Board adjudicator Geoff Rempel described the war crimes allegation as one of the most serious.
The migrant testified that at the end of a particular battle, there was a call for Tigers with AK-47 rifles to come forward.
Under questioning from his lawyer Fiona Begg, he testified that he took the call as an invitation — not an order — to take part in the killing of wounded Sri Lankan soldiers, who were being held inside a house.
Kevin Hatch, the representative for the Canada Border Services Agency seeking the man's deportation, told the board that in an earlier interview, the man said that he had sent others around him to go — though there was a question of whether that statement had been accurately interpreted.
Asked to clarify, the man testified Tuesday that he just mentioned to others around him that there had been a call for people with AK-47s to come forward.
Previous admissibility hearings have centred on allegations of migrants membership in the LTTE or that they engaged in people smuggling. So far two people have been ordered deported.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Contact Information:: Send
mail to