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President says Sri Lanka will investigate charges of rights violations

Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa speaks at the 65th session of the United Nations General Assembly at the UN on September 23, 2010 in New York. UPI/Monika Graff
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa speaks at the 65th session of the United Nations General Assembly at the UN on September 23, 2010 in New York. UPI/Monika Graff | License Photo

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- Sri Lanka will investigate allegations of human rights violations presented through the country's legal system, the nation's president said Thursday.

"We will take action against anybody," Colombo Page reported President Mahinda Rajapaksa said during a press conference preceding the start of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo.

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"I am ready to do that. We are very open. We have nothing to hide."

Sri Lanka has been criticized internationally for its human rights record, especially since a long civil war ended in 2009.

The president asserted any human rights-related killings had ended.

"People were getting killed for 30 years; at least after 2009 we have stopped it," he said. "There is no killing in Sri Lanka today."

The prime ministers of Canada, India and Mauritius are boycotting the meeting over the human rights allegations. The prime ministers of Australia and England have said they will attend, but raise the rights issue.

Questions of possible war crimes remain following victory over the Tamil Tigers in a 26-year rebellion, including the summary killings of rebels who surrendered, the BBC reported.

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Journalists attempting to document human rights violations have had their equipment seized and threats have forced others to flee the country.

U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay, during a recent visit to Sri Lanka, criticized "the lack of swift action" by the government against what she called the "surge in incitement of hatred and violence against religious minorities."

A Christian evangelical association says it has documented 65 attacks on Christians so far this year.

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