An independent United Nations human rights expert said on January 7 there are strong indications that a video of alleged extrajudicial executions by Sri Lankan soldiers that aired last August on British television is authentic, a UN News Centre article said that day.
Philip Alston, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, also called for an inquiry into possible war crimes committed by the Sri Lankan Army in its war on the Tamil minority.
Alston commissioned experts in forensic pathology, forensic video analysis, and firearm evidence to examine the video, after concluding that the investigations carried out by the government had not been thorough or impartial. "The conclusion clearly is that the video is authentic," he told a news conference in New York. "I have therefore called on the government of Sri Lanka to respond to these allegations."