AI says Karuna is accused of crimes against humanity

Karuna who broke away from the Tamil Tigers in 2004 was sworn in as an MP on Tuesday after being appointed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa's ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA).

The newly sworn MP has committed "war crimes and crimes against humanity including child recruitment," said AI in a statement issued from London.

It called upon the Sri Lankan state to promptly investigate allegations including "torture committed after March 2004 when Colonel Karuna is believed to have allied himself with the state armed forces".

AI researcher on Sri Lanka, Yolanda Foster told BBC Sandeshaya that opposition parties should publicly review his case and seek judicial remedy against the appointment.

All major political parties, who boycotted the swearing in ceremony on Tuesday, have protested the appointment for various reasons.

"Immoral"

Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) has filed a Fundamental Rights (FR) petition against the appointment calling it "immoral".

	JVP says Karuna's appointment is immoral

It says that the UPFA has no right to appoint an MP to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of JVP MP Wasantha Samarasinghe.

The JVP has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the UPFA in the 2004 parliamentary election which saw the alliance win a majority.

"According to the Memorandum, vacancies in the parliament should be filled by the party which the MP belongs to," JVP spokesman Vijitha Herath told the BBC Sinhala service.

Opposition and United National Party (UNP) leader, Ranil Wickramasinghe told journalists in Colombo that Karuna is not qualified to be a parliamentarian.

"Recruiting children"

Karuna has served a prison sentence in UK, the UNP leader said, and also accused of killing hundreds of policemen in the east while being a senior leader of the LTTE.

The opposition leader was referring to 600 policemen allegedly killed on Karuna's orders in 1991.

The leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP -Mahajana Wing), Mangala Samaraweera, said that the opposition leader should be applauded for creating a split within the LTTE during the peace talks.

TMVP is yet to hand over weapons and accused of recruiting children for combat, he added.