Young girl escapes death to give evidence

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 December 1998, 08:29 GMT]
"On the day of the incident three soldiers entered our house. One of the soldiers asked us to get into one of the rooms. He placed the gun on our heads, threatened to kill us if we made any noise, and asked for our names. He then put the lamp out and emptied the bullets on us," said the 16-year old girl, Sinnarasa Vinodhini, while giving evidence to the Human Rights Commission on December 10th.

Vinodhini miraculously escaped death from the above incident when soldiers entered a house near the Church of Virgin Mary in Kilaly, Jaffna and randomly shot and killed two residents on the 7th of December. Others survived with injuries.

The Jaffna district representative of the Human Rights Commission, Mr. S. Sreetharan has initiated an investigation of the above incident.

Murugiah Sivarasa, in his testimony to the Human Rights Commission, on the incident said, "on the night of the incident when I was about to leave after closing my shop, three soldiers forced themselves in and asked for 'beedi' [cigarette] and some beetle leaves. When I told them that I have already closed my shop they threatened that they will kill me. After some time they left my shop and I saw them enter into Amirthanathan's house. Then I heard some gun shots.

"When I went the next day to the army camp to complain about the incident the soldiers in the camp said that it was the Tigers who committed the crime.

"I refused to accept that and identified the three soldiers who perpetrated the crime," Sivarasa added in his testimony.

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