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LTTE hands over surrendered SLN soldier to SLMM

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 July 2003, 13:31 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Saturday morning handed over a surrendered Sri Lanka Navy soldier, C.Rajapakse, 27, to the head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Committee Mission in Jaffna, SLMM sources said.

The SLN soldier, a native of Anuradhapura in the north central province, fled from the SLN camp at Kilali and surrendered to the LTTE political office at Chavakachcheri in the Thenmaradchchi division of the Jaffna district Friday evening, LTTE sources said.

On Saturday morning, the LTTE political officials took the SLN soldier to the office of the SLMM in Jaffna. LTTE Jaffna political head Mr.C.Ilamparuthi later handed him over to the head of the Jaffna SLMM head. Jaffna regional coordinator of the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission, Mr.Ruwan Chandrasekara, was also present at the occasion, SLMM sources said.

According to Mr.Rajapakse, he was from a poor farming family and as he had no income, had joined the SLN four months ago. During his training, he was severely assaulted and as he could not tolerate the suffering in the hands of senior officers, he fled from the Kilali camp and surrendered at the LTTE political office in Chavakachcheri, sources said.