Chemmani unsafe

RESPONDING to an invitation by the Sri Lankan Attorney General, Sarath Silva, human rights agency Amnesty International says that Sri Lanka must guarantee the safety of forensic experts participating in the exhumation of mass graves at Chemmani in Jaffna. An accused in the Krishanthy Kumarasamy murder case revealed in July that the bodies of 400 Tamils killed in Army custody are buried at Chemmani. Observers welcome the invitation to Amnesty, but point out that the government has still not responded to a request for permission by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) to investigate the gravesite. Despite the assurances of former Jaffna Army Commander Lionel Balagalle, local people are convinced that the government delay in the probe, is facilitating destruction of evidence of the mass graves. A consortium of local humanitarian agencies alleges in an October letter to President Chandrika that bodies are being removed from the graves and burned.

There is concern in Jaffna over continuing search operations and arrests. The highpriest of Jaffna’s Selvachannathy temple went missing on 16 October and was located on 29 October at the Kankesanthurai military base. Rasanayagam Uthayakumar, 42, was arrested by the Army at a checkpoint in Nallur on 23 October. His body was handed to the Jaffna hospital five days later, claiming that he committed suicide. The security forces made a similar claim in September over the death of GA Gunasekaram in custody. It has been alleged that Navy personnel raped a 16 year-old student on 17 October at her home in Vaddukkottai, after beating-up the parents. Commander Balagalle says an enquiry into the incident has been ordered.

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