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Message: <blockquote data-quote="lkdood" data-source="post: 9324061" data-attributes="member: 92282"><img src="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/media/ALeqM5hGn-0ZOtJR_H8S1YTmsg_yaS5QVQ?docId=photo_1296252151096-3-0&size=s2" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />Members of Sri Lanka's Tamil minority have filed a lawsuit in the  United States against the island's president, seeking $30 million in  damages over alleged extrajudicial killings.Activists from the  Tamil diaspora spearheaded legal action after President Mahinda  Rajapakse quietly traveled to the United States, in a test of how much  deference US authorities show to visiting heads of state.Bruce  Fein, a prominent Washington lawyer, said he filed the suit on behalf of  three plaintiffs under a 1991 act that allows for action in the United  States against foreign officials over torture and extrajudicial  killings."President Rajapakse will not escape the long arm of  justice secured by the Torture Victims Protection Act by hiding in Sri  Lanka," Fein said after the filing in the US District Court in  Washington on Friday.Fein said he wanted a reply from Rajapakse and otherwise would seek a ruling without him.The  lawsuit seeks $30 million on behalf of three plaintiffs who said their  relatives were killed in three incidents, including the Sri Lankan  army's offensive in 2009 against the final holdout of the Tamil Tiger  (LTTE) rebels.The United Nations has said at least 7,000  civilians perished in the final months of fighting, while international  rights groups have put the toll at more than 30,000.Sri Lanka has  denied any civilian deaths and has rejected calls for an international  probe. The Tigers were known for devastating suicide bombings during  their decades-long campaign for a separate Tamil homeland.The Sri  Lankan embassy in Washington declined comment, but in Colombo, a  spokesman for President Rajapakse dismissed the action as a publicity  stunt."We have no time for mercenaries funded by the LTTE who  want media attention," said Bandula Jayasekera, the director general of  the president's media unit and Rajapakse's spokesman.Rajapakse's  office earlier dismissed as "frivolous and mischievous" a call by  Amnesty International for the United States to investigate the head of  state during his trip.Rajapakse came to the United States last  week on what Sri Lankan officials called a private visit. Tamil diaspora  groups, which strongly oppose Rajapakse, said they believed he was  visiting family in Texas but has since left.A US-based activist  group calling itself Tamils Against Genocide, which is leading the suit,  said in a statement it was "alarmed and disappointed" that US  authorities allowed Rajapakse to visit without questions on his actions.The  group said it was testing the law in the wake of the June 2010 Samantar  decision by the Supreme Court, which found that countries -- not  individuals -- enjoyed diplomatic immunity from lawsuits in the United  States.In the case, the top court ruled unanimously that Mohamed  Ali Samantar, a former prime minister of Somalia who now lives in the  United States, may be sued over alleged torture during his rule.<a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j5z_ecLKTsUXXN-Uu_Pt5tIHeiSQ?docId=CNG.ad0fbca0fd67e69b8000b22f53b7ca5d.cf1" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.google.com/hostednews/img/afp_logo.gif" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a></blockquote>

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