[News Conference] We strongly denounce Sri Lanka’s fraudulent election and violation of human rights.

Sri Lanka has been regarded as one of the countries that violate their citizens’ human rights because of their civil war that is still happening today and many violations that were occurred during that time. The President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa, was internationally blamed for indiscriminate attacks on their civilians, which made Sri Lanka excluded from Human Rights Council in May, 2008.

Nevertheless, Rajapaksa was elected through a far-reaching rigged presidential election in January 26th, 2010, and ended up going against the international society’s expectation of the improvement in Sri Lanka’s level of democracy and human rights. According to the press, in order to win again the presidential election, Rajapaksa used every possible means in illegal and unjust ways, and caused violence against the supporters of the opposition party which resulted in four innocent deaths, and hundreds of rages. During the election, not only did Rajapaksa confiscate the opposition party supporters’ citizen cards so that they would not be able to vote, but also he threatened and forced voters to vote in favor of him. A myriad of suspicions were raised. As the suspicions on the presidential election were arisen, the Sri Lanka government arrested the opposition party’s presidential candidate, Fonseka, in February 8, 2010, for the allegation of plotting a military coup against the government.

In February 11, 2010, Razeek, Sri Lanka’s eminent human rights activist and director of execution from the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development, has been disappeared. His disappearance is interconnected with the current circumstances in Sri Lanka and causes many concerns from the international society.

The Korean society and guest workers from Sri Lanka will not seat aside and ignore their rigged election and violation of human rights, and we will fight against the Rajapaksa to recover peace and democracy in Sri Lanka.

We demand the government of Sri Lanka as follows

-Nullify the rigged presidential election immediately and hold a re-election.

-Release the opposition party’s presidential candidate and investigate violence or illegalness happened during the election.

-Stop pressuring Tamil tribe and human right activists.

-Investigate Razeek’s disappearance immediately, and guarantee his security.

*February 21st, 2010