COLOMBO: A retired Sri Lankan soldier died on Wednesday, a day after setting himself alight in what police said was a protest against UN moves to investigate the country’s war record.

The 73-year-old man set himself on fire on Tuesday near President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s tightly-guarded residence in Colombo, police spokesman Ajith Rohana said.

“He died in hospital overnight,” Rohana said in a statement. “In a dying declaration, he said he was carrying out a suicide to protest the actions of (former UN rights chief) Navi Pillay.”

The claim could not be independently verified.