The Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Referring to the case of Mr. D.M. Dassanayake, Minister of Nation-Building and a member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka, who was assassinated on 8 January 2008, as outlined in the report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians (CL/189/11(b)-R.1), and to the resolution adopted at its 188th session (April 2011); referring also to the report of the on-site mission to Sri Lanka carried out by the Committee in February 2008 (CL/183/12(b)-R.2),

Taking into account the information with which Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe, Special Envoy of the President of Sri Lanka for Human Rights, provided the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians at the hearing held during the 125th IPU Assembly,

Recalling the following: Mr. D.M. Dassanayake was killed on 8 January 2008, along with a bodyguard, in a roadside Claymore mine attack while on his way to parliament, the arrest of a key Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suspect operating in Colombo led to the arrest of other suspects whose revelations resulted in the recovery of the remote-control device used to detonate the explosive that killed Mr. Dassanayake,

Also recalling that in April 2011, Minister Samarasinghe reported that of the three suspects, an indictment was issued on W.D. Hyacinth and sent by the Attorney General on 31 March 2011 to the Negombo High Court, and that charges of conspiracy and abetting murder were being finalized against the other two suspects; considering that, according to the latest information provided by Minister Samarasinghe, the case was to be heard next on 19 October 2011,

1. Thanks Minister Samarasinghe for his cooperation;

2. Wishes to ascertain whether the indictments on charges of conspiracy and abetting murder have now been finalized and the matter is being heard in court;

3. Trusts that the authorities are doing everything they can to advance swiftly towards completion of the proceedings; would appreciate being advised whether a timetable is in place to this end and being kept informed of further progress in the proceedings;

4. Recalls that Parliament, in the exercise of its oversight function, is entitled to follow an investigation, especially when it concerns one of its members; wishes therefore to ascertain the views of Parliament on taking such an initiative;

5. Requests the Secretary General to convey this resolution to the authorities and to the sources;

6. Requests the Committee to continue examining this case and report to it at its next session, to be held during the 126th IPU Assembly (March/April 2012).

Note: you can download a complete electronic version of the brochure "Results of the 125th IPU Assembly and related meetings" in PDF format (file size 718 Kb approximately). This version requires Adobe Acrobat Reader, which you can download free of charge.

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