President's downfall raises hopes of justice for war crimes

Onan April day in 2019, Gotabaya Rajapaksa was enjoying the afternoon with his family in an affluent suburb of Los Angeles.

- Hannah Ellis-Petersen

 As he strolled through a car park, a woman sidled up and shoved a brown envelope into his hands. "You've been served," said the private investigator before rushing away.

The charges inside that brown envelope, a civil suit alleging complicity in torture and killings, would not make it far in the courts. Seven months later Rajapaksa, a member of Sri Lanka's most powerful political dynasty, would be elected president, and be granted immunity from prosecution.

But since Rajapaksa's presidency came to an abrupt end last month as he fled abroad and resigned in disgrace, accused of bankrupting Sri Lanka, lawyers, activists and victims around the world have swung into action. Stripped of the protections of his office, many believe that, finally, this could be an opportunity for justice.

The International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP), which has spent more than a decade collecting evidence on Rajapaksa and brought the initial 2019 US civil suit, has filed a criminal complaint with the attorney general in Singapore, where he is hiding out, seeking his arrest for alleged war crimes under the country's Geneva Conventions Act.