Sri Lankan diplomat denies allegations

EXCLUSIVE - Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to Australia former admiral Thisara Samarasinghe has denied accusations that he should be investigated for alleged war crimes.

The Australian chapter of the International Commission of Jurists sent a brief of evidence to the federal police recommending to investigate alleged war crimes during Sri Lanka's civil war.

The submission reportedly calls for Sri Lanka's High Commissioner - a former Admiral - to be probed.

The brief of evidence reportedly alleges Sri Lanka's Navy fired on fleeing, unarmed civilians in the last months of the civil war.

And it states that, as Admiral, Thisara Samarasinghe had a "command responsibility" for the actions of other sailors, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

But Mr Samarasinghe fiercely rejects the accusations.

"I decided to speak because they [such accusations] are baseless," he told SBS.

He also denies any civilians were deliberately killed, but he says in every conflict there can be casualties.

"Unfortunate situations could arise from a conflict of this magnitude," Mr Samarasinghe told SBS.

The Greens say there are numerous eyewitness accounts of the Sri Lankan Navy firing directly upon heavily populated areas.

"There's an increasing number of reports that have come out from the United Nations and now this one from the international commission of jurists," NSW Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon said.

But the High Commissioner says the Tamil Tigers didn't play by any rules.

"They had suicide bombers and we were operating in waters and land areas at times infested with the terrorist boats," he told SBS.

The United Nations estimates 40,000 civilians could have been killed in the final stages of the conflict.

The Greens say Australia should add its voice to the growing call for an international war crimes tribunal.

The Australian Tamil Congress says anyone who held a position of power during the conflict should be investigated.