Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday told the Parliament that former President Mahinda Rajapaksa had asked for Japanese expert assistance for investigations of alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka.

Addressing the Parliament of his recent visit to Japan, Wickremesinghe said that the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe suggested the name of Motoo Noguchi, a Japanese judge who took part in the Khemer Rouge trials during 2006-2012.

Wickremesinghe said Noguchi visited Sri Lanka in October 2014 after the previous Rajapaksa regime approached Japan to lend the services of a former and experienced judge.

The Prime Minister also tabled reports submitted by the Udalagama and Paranagama commissions of inquiry into allegations of human rights violations and complaints of abductions and disappearances, apart from a copy of the text of the report of the Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva.

(With inputs from The Hindu)