Spectator video captures SL Police, SLA kill mentally ill Tamil youth

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 October 2009, 12:37 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police and Sri Lanka Army soldiers beat a mentally ill Tamil youth and forced the youth to drown near the sea near Bambalapitya, Colombo, railway station Thursday. The youth was identified as Balavarnam Sivakumar, 26, of Ratmalana, according to media reports in Colombo, which belatedly listed the youth's identity. "The entire country [Sri Lanka] watched in horror, as a group of heavily built men attacked the mentally unstable [Tamil] youth with wooden poles while he pleaded for mercy, when it was telecast on several news bulletins on Thursday night," Daily Mirror said.
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Amnesty, CPJ, RSF call for probe into Channel-4 video death threats

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 October 2009, 11:28 GMT]
New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Amnesty International, and Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF), three premier watchdogs on media freedom, independently called Sri Lanka to investigate into the death threats received by two senior editors of Sri Lanka's Sunday Leader for the editors' coverage of the Channel-4 broadcast video which showed armed Sri Lankan soldiers allegedly executing Tamil prisoners stripped naked and hands tied behind their backs. “The air of impunity surrounding violence against the media is having a chilling effect on journalists,” said Bob Dietz, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator.
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Sri Lanka editors receive death threats for Channel-4 video comments

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 October 2009, 03:26 GMT]
Sunday Leader, a weekend broadsheet in Sri Lanka, said in the latest edition that two of the paper's editors, Frederica Jansz, and Munza Mushtaq, received Thursday "hand written death threats by post." The threats relate to Sunday Leader news stories on the authenticity of the August Channel-4 video which showed armed Sri Lankan soldiers executing Tamil prisoners stripped naked and hands tied behind their backs. "This newspaper has consistently in the entire 15 years of its existence come under attack. We have been burnt, bombed, sealed, harassed and threatened, culminating in January this year with the brutal killing of Lasantha Wickrematunge," the paper said.
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2 SLA, civilian killed, Pillayan's vehicle meets with accident

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 October 2009, 03:05 GMT]
A civilian and two Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed Tuesday morning around 4:30 a.m. in Kurunegala district where a vehicle of Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, the chief minister of Eastern province and a paramilitary leader, met with an accident, Police said.
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UN proposes Goldstone-type mission to investigate Sri Lanka war crimes

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 October 2009, 01:45 GMT]
Following the release of U.S. State Department's report that detailed alleged war-crimes committed by Sri Lanka's protagonists towards the end of war, conducted under Colombo imposed blackout, spokesperson for the U.N. High Commissioner of Human Rights, Rupert Colville, said Friday that an inquiry similar to one that looked into fighting in Gaza may be needed to determine if war crimes were committed in Sri Lanka in the final weeks of the war. Brad Adams of HRW had earlier said "[g]iven Sri Lanka's complete failure to investigate possible war crimes, the only hope for justice is an independent, international investigation." Sri Lanka rejected the report as "unsubstantiated and devoid of corroborative evidence."
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SLA conducts Perahera in Jaffna city

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 October 2009, 07:03 GMT]
The 51st Division of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna conducted the ‘Katrima Pooja’ perahera (Buddhist religious procession) of Naakavikaarai located in Jaffna city Thursday night led by Namal Rajapakse, the son of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who had come along with 250 youths and 20 Buddhist priests from the South to participate in the perahera. Local residents, however, did not show any significant interest in the perahera conducted by the SLA.
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HRW: US report ignites call for war crimes investigations against Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 October 2009, 04:05 GMT]
The US State Department war crimes report to the Senate submitted as mandated by the explanatory statement to the US Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2009, detailed day-by-day account in a format similar to a "model indictment," and said the alleged incidents in the final stages of war may constitute "violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) or crimes against humanity and related harms." Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch (HRW), said, "[g]iven Sri Lanka's complete failure to investigate possible war crimes, the only hope for justice is an independent, international investigation," and added, "concerned governments should use the US State Department report as a clarion call for an international investigation. There are no more excuses for inaction."
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22nd death anniversary of IPKF killed JTH personnel held in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 October 2009, 07:45 GMT]
The 22nd death anniversary of the 21 medical personnel including three leading doctors killed indiscriminately by the Indian Peace Keeping Forces (IPKF) on 21st October 1987 within Jaffna Teaching Hospital (JTH) was held Wednesday in JTH in an emotionally charged atmosphere, sources in Jaffna said. All activities of JTH were suspended for a while when the event took place with the participation of JTH personnel and hundreds of patients. IPKF, opening fire on the medical personnel who were trying to safeguard the patients and civilians, had killed more than a hundred of them too along with the medical personnel.
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Forensic analysis confirms execution-video authentic, says US-group

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 October 2009, 02:25 GMT]
A notarized report of preliminary findings from a US-based forensic company that took nearly three weeks to analyze the Channel-4 broadcast video allegedly showing Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers extra-judicially executing Tamil captives stripped naked and hands tied behind their back, said "[t]he video and audio of the events depicted in the Video, were continuous without any evidence of start/stops, insertions, deletions, over recordings, editing or tampering of any kind." US pressure group, Tamils Against Genocide (TAG) which sponsored the study, placed an embargo on revealing the details of the forensic company, until the final report is complete early November.
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SLA forcibly takes 99 IDPs from Pulmoaddai to Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 October 2009, 15:50 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) forcibly took away ninety-nine internally displaced men between the age of 40 and 50 detained in camps located in Pulmoaddai to Vavuniyaa internment camp in eight vehicles without prior notice. SLA soldiers arrived at Pulmoaddai camp Friday night around 8:00 p.m and through public address system called out the names of ninety-nine IDPs. They were bundled into the vehicles when they came out of the camp in response to the call. They are all heads of families. They are now held in Ne’luku’lam camp in Vavuniyaa, sources in Vavuniyaa said.
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3 Tamil youths arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 October 2009, 17:05 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and police took into custody Monday morning three Tamil youths in a joint search conducted in Eddiyawathe in Mattakuliya, a suburb of Colombo city. One of the youths was arrested as he was travelling in No. 155 public transport bus which was bound to Galkisse. The other two youths were taken into custody in the search conducted in Eddiyawathe junction.
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Release 250,000 Tamils from illegal detention immediately, HRW tells Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 October 2009, 20:40 GMT]
Pointing out that "[d]eteriorating conditions, including a shortage of water since October 5, 2009, combined with the prospect of flooding during the imminent monsoon season, have led to rising tensions among camp residents and clashes with the military," New York based rights watchdog, Human Rights Watch (HRW), called on international donors Japan, the United States and European Union member states "to send a clear message to the Government of Sri Lanka that continued detention of the displaced will have serious consequences for Sri Lanka's relationship with the international community."
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Tension grips Tamil business community in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 October 2009, 11:54 GMT]
Tension has gripped the Tamil business community in Colombo and its suburbs after Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers called on them to register their assets with the local authorities. The soldiers had called on the community with a printed form which has to be filled with every miniature detail from the type of enterprise, to assets such as vehicles, etc, members of the family, relatives and employees. The Tamil business community is perturbed over this new regulation since they have already registered themselves with the relevant police divisions.
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SLA collects particulars only from Tamil traders in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 October 2009, 09:32 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers have been distributing forms in Sinhalese language only to Tamil traders in the city of Colombo since Thursday calling for particulars for the purpose of special registration, according to an urgent letter sent by Deputy Minister, P. Rathakrishnan to Prime Minister, R. Wickremanayake, requesting him to instruct SLA to explain as to why such details are being collected from Tamil traders only, sources in Colombo said.
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Colombo has plans to colonize North with Buddhist Sinhalese – Suresh Premachandran

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 October 2009, 17:06 GMT]
The government of Sri Lanka is actively engaged in colonizing Ki’linochchi, Mullaiththeevu and Jaffna district with Sinhalese Buddhists in order to crush the demand for Eelam in the traditional homelands of the Tamils in the North, Suresh Premachandran, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Jaffna parliamentarian, said in a press meet held Monday in his Jaffna office. He further accused the government for not accepting help from International Community in de-mining Vanni as it does not want the persons from foreign countries to see the mass graves of civilians killed by its armed forces in the Vanni during the war. The MP also said that though the government says that it had resettled 40,000 IDPs from Vavuniyaa internment camps, 95% of them have been again detained in new internment camps in their respective home districts under the direct control of Sri Lankan forces.
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SLA soldier opens fire, Captain, soldier killed

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 October 2009, 11:27 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) captain and a soldier succumbed to their injuries caused by a shooting that followed a quarrel among the Sri Lankan soldiers at Parappaangka'ndal in Naanaaddaan in Mannaar, Friday night.
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SLA explosive expert arrested for van bomb

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 October 2009, 10:19 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldier and explosive expert attached to Minneriya camp in Polonnaruwa was arrested by Kurunegala Police Friday night in connection with the school van bomb blast Friday that killed a 11 year old girl student and injured 11 others including school children and the driver. The soldier, a neighbour of the van owner, is suspected for making the bomb by smuggling C4 explosives from the military installation.
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Clinton's rape bombshell

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 October 2009, 00:17 GMT]
US Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, chairing the United Nations Security Council meeting Wednesday, on the last day of US's turn of the rotating presidency of the 15-member body in September, on violence against women in warfare, dropped a bombshell on Sri Lanka by including Sri Lanka in the company of Congo, Sudan, and Mayanmar, saying Sri Lanka has used rape as a weapon of war [against Tamils], thereby adding another incriminating legal element to mounting woes of the Sri Lanka Government from allegations of war-crimes for slaughtering more than 20,000 Tamil civilians, and incarcerating more than 300,000 Tamils with little freedom of movement in military supervised internment camps.
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Tamil Nadu fishermen assaulted, driven naked by Sri Lanka Navy

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 September 2009, 17:34 GMT]
Twenty-four fishermen from Keechchaangkuppam in Naakarkoayil area in Tamil Nadu, fishing in Kanniyaakumari seas in five boats Friday night, were brutally assaulted and cast naked in the seas by Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) soldiers, sources in Naakarkoayil said. SLN soldiers had beaten the fishermen on their heads with the ice blocks taken by the fishermen to preserve their catch, the sources added. Fishermen in the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu saved the 24 fishermen who managed to swim ashore Saturday morning and admitted them in the local hospital, the sources further said.
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SLA shoots 6 including women, children in Cheddiku'lam camp

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 September 2009, 12:36 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on Saturday around 6:00 p.m. opened fire and injured six civilians including two women and three children in Cheddiku'lam internment camp, according to initial reports reaching from Vavuniyaa. One 8-year-old child, seriously wounded in the episode, was transferred to Anuradhapura hospital from Vavuniyaa hospital, medical sources in Vavuniyaa said.
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