Eight Ampara villagers held

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 August 2000, 18:26 GMT]
Eight Tamils from a remote village of Thumbankerny in Thikkodai in the south-eastern Ampara District were arrested by the Sri Lankan police on Tuesday, according to the local office of the government-funded Human Rights Commission, but a senior police officer denied the arrests had taken place.

The villagers were taken into custody at Kaduruvelle bus terminal in Polonnaruwa district while they on their way to work in paddy-fields, according to complaints registered with the Human Rights Commission in Kalmunai.

According to the HRC, names of the arrested villagers are:

Arumukam Krishnapillai,55
Ariyaratnam Chanthirasekaram,22
Poolapillai Nesan,25
Nalarasa Thavarasa,22
Velayutham Mohan,21
Thurairasa Nirmukarasa,20
Uokarasa Sasikumar,12
Nakarasan Puvanenthiran,33

The Police Superintendent has, however, told Chairman of the Kalmunai HRC, Manoharan that they had not arrested the villagers.