COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- Sri Lanka's military has appointed a Court of Inquiry to look into civilian deaths allegedly at the hands of the army during the brutal civil war that ended in 2009.
The five-member Court of Inquiry was appointed Jan. 3 by army commander Lt. Gen. Jagath Jayasuriya, a report by The Daily News said.
The court is looking into specific observations made by the government-appointed Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission in its report handed to the government in December.
The investigation also is considering issues raised in June in a televised program by British independent television station Channel 4, "irrespective of its authenticity or otherwise," the statement said.
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The Sri Lanka army has had, since its creation in 1949, a policy of zero tolerance toward any breach of humanitarian laws by its members during engagements, Jayasuriya said.
He also insisted the inquiry, which is most concerned about issues raised by the LLRC, wasn't formed under pressure from foreign governments.
The protracted civil war between the majority Sinhalese federal army and the Tamil rebels ended in 2009. The United Nations estimates around 100,000 people were killed, including up to 7,000 in the final, particularly brutal, year of fighting the Tamil Tigers -- officially called the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
The Tigers were struggling for a separate homeland for Tamils in the northeast of the island nation, which lies several miles off the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent.
If there appears the possibility of a case against any person, a general court-martial would be convened to try the alleged offender, The Daily News reported. A general court -martial has identical jurisdiction to that of a High Court and can award any sentence, including the death penalty.
The LLRC report, published in December after an 18-month inquiry, said that the army might have been implicated in some civilian deaths that should be investigated. However, there was no deliberate targeting of civilians, the report said.
The military's confirmation of the inquiry could be an attempt to put to an end to accusations from international human rights groups and, last year, a U.N. report that the military was involved in civilian deaths.
In April Sri Lanka's government went on the offensive, saying the report by the United Nations' Expert Panel's report on Sri Lanka's accountability was biased.
The U.N. report's authors wanted an independent inquiry into the acts of both sides during the war. The report also accused Tamil Tigers of keeping civilians in dangerous conflict zones and using them as hostages and human shields.
Sri Lankan External Affairs Minister Gamini Lakshman Peiris said the government hadn't embarked on "triumphalism" over winning the war against the rebels. Sri Lankan banks are making loans to Tamil farmers to help rebuild their lives shattered by the war, he said.
The military, government and former Tamil Tiger leaders are working toward moving former rebel fighters into the military. Thousands remain in remote camps awaiting a decision about their future in the regular army.
In November, Freedom from Torture, a U.K. charity working with victims of torture, handed a report on Sri Lanka to the United Nations. Doctors at the organization reviewed 35 cases -- 33 involving Tamils -- out of more than 300 cases referred to the charity's clinics over the past two years.
The submission focuses exclusively on cases of torture committed after 2009.
"Torture perpetrated by state actors within both the military and police has continued in Sri Lanka after the conflict ended in May 2009 and is still occurring in 2011," the report said.
"These cases demonstrate the widespread and continuing use of a large number of unofficial detention facilities in which many of the individuals … were held."
