Sivaram memorial lecture in Toronto

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 June 2007, 04:20 GMT]
Canadian Tamil Congress, a Tamil community organization in Canada, is commemorating the second death anniversary of Dharmaretnam Sivaram, popular journalist and Senior Editor at TamilNet, by holding a memorial event and lecture at McLeod Auditoriam, St George Campus, University of Toronto, at 3:00 p.m. Sunday, organizing officials announced. Mark Whittaker, Professor of Anthropology, University of South Carolina, will be the Guest Speaker at the event.

Tamil student Associations of the Greater Metropolition Toronto are offering their fullest cooperation and involvement to the event.

The Organizers are also planning to announce at the memorial event, "Dharmeratnam "Taraki" Sivaram Memorial Scholarship," an annual scholarship for Journalism to be administered by the Ryerson University. Ryerson offers a well respected full-time programe in Journalism.

Sivaram was abducted 28 April 2005 Thursday evening around 10.30 PM by unidentified persons in front of the Bambalapitya Police Station in Colombo. His body was found with severe head injuries in Himbulala, a Sinhala suburb between Jayawardhenapura hospital and the Parliament building in Colombo inside a high security zone the following morning.

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) described Mr. Sivaram as a “brilliant journalist," and said he was targeted because of his “uncompromising coverage of the political and military situation” in Sri Lanka.

The sole accused, Arumugam Sriskandarajah alias Peter of Trincomalee, was produced in court when the case was taken up for inquiry on 14 May 2007. The Judge, W.A.T.Ratnayake, issued arrest warrants on the three key state witnesses, Chandana Gamage, K.Yogachchandran and M.Pathmanathan, who were not present in court.

The Court put off the inquiry in this case for July 16.

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Canadian Tamil Congress