"
Five innocent Tamil youth have been deliberately shot and killed
in cold blood by security forces around 7.45 p.m. on 2nd January
2006 on the road close to the beach abutting Dockyard Road and
the road leading to Fort Frederick at Trincomalee. Two other
innocent Tamil youths sustained serious injuries at the same
time and place caused by a grenade explosion.
The Tamil youths killed are:
(1) Thangathurai Sivanantha (Engineering student-Moratuwa
University
(2) Logithasan Rohanth
(3) Shanmugarajah Sajeenthiran
(4) Manoharan Rajeehar and
(5) Yogarajah Hemachandran.
Youth 2 to 5 have completed their GCE (Advanced Level)
examination and were awaiting either admission to university or
employment. The two Tamil youths grievously injured are
Pararajasingham Kokilaraj who has completed the GCE A/L examination
and Yogarajah Pookulanlon who has been admitted to the Engineering
Faculty.
It is customary for people to assemble at the beach or close to
the beach in the evenings. These youths were together engaged in a
conversation and enjoying the fresh air.
From a three-wheeler which went past them a grenade was thrown
causing an explosion and injuries to the youths. Following the
grenade explosion an armed services vehicle arrived at the spot,
from which armed services personnel alighted. The five youths
were severely assaulted, and though initially they were put into the
vehicle, they were later pushed out of the vehicle and shot. Three
of them sustained gunshot injuries on the head, while the other two
sustained gunshot injuries to the abdomen and chest. The five youth
killed came by their death as a result of gunshot injuries..." [The
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Press Release, 3 January 2006]
Mr.V.Ramakamalan, Trincomalee Magistrate Tuesday ordered
postmortem examination on the bodies of five students who were
killed in front of the Dutch Bay sea beach in the eastern port town,
Monday night around 7.50 p.m. The students were shot and killed by
unidentified armed men, civil rights sources said. Earlier reports
said they were killed in a grenade blast. Soon after the grenade
explosion at the Dock Yard road, armed men arrived in a vehicle at
the scene and the students were taken into the vehicle and were
assaulted. Thereafter the armed men ordered the students to lie
on the ground and shot at them on their heads, the sources said.
[
TamilNet, 3 January 2006]
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International Federation of Tamils, 4 January 2006
18 Rue des Paquis,1201 Geneva, Switzerland
[email protected]
" In complete contrast to the statement
made by the military spokesman on the killing of five
teenage boys in Trincomalee that they were LTTE cadres
killed accidentally in a blast while assembling an
incendiary with an intent to attack a military installation,
the autopsy made by the state medical officers on their
bodies, has revealed that they were shot through their ears
at a very close range. It was also subsequently revealed
that they were all advanced level qualified civilian
students from the same school on a normal evening
camaraderie at the beach...
...Five were killed instantly while two
are in hospital, critically wounded. A spokesperson for the
Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, Helen Olafsdottir, told BBC
Sandesaya, that there was evidence that all five students
had been shot in the head in a manner she described as
resembling �executions.� This is naked State terrorism
perpetrated on unarmed school children. The Tamil nation,
both in Sri Lanka and belonging to the Tamil Diaspora
appeals to the International Community to condemn the
barbaric act of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces and prevail on
the President of Sri Lanka to take immediate and strong
action against the perpetrators... Unarmed civilians need
protection against a vindictive armed state."
This is the second urgent
appeal the IFT, International Federation of Tamils is making to
the IC, International Community within a week, for urgent measures
to prevent the annihilation of Tamils in the government controlled
areas of the traditional homeland of the Tamils in Sri Lanka, by the
State Armed Forces. Vicious attacks on civilians, growing lists of
missing persons, violence on women including rapes and murders,
killing of school children and attacks on schools and universities,
arson, increased checkpoints and harassing body searches are
spiralling to intolerable heights.
In complete contrast to the statement made by the military spokesman
on the killing of five teenage boys in Trincomalee that they were
LTTE cadres killed accidentally in a blast while assembling an
incendiary with an intent to attack a military installation, the
autopsy made by the state medical officers on their bodies, has
revealed that they were shot through their ears at a very close
range. It was also subsequently revealed that they were all advanced
level qualified civilian students from the same school on a normal
evening camaraderie at the beach.
It has emerged that they were initially attacked by a
hand-grenade thrown at them from a passing by auto-rickshaw,
wounding one severely. As the strollers at the beach streaked in
different directions in panic, the boys stood by their wounded
colleague to load him in vehicle to rush for treatment when the
State Armed Forces arrived as if in waiting, pulled them out of the
vehicle, kicked, trampled and mauled them. The Seamen had strained
their rifles at the ear of each boy sprawled on the ground at close
range and pulled the trigger.
Five were killed instantly while two are in hospital, critically
wounded. A spokesperson for the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, Helen
Olafsdottir, told BBC Sandesaya, that there was evidence that all
five students had been shot in the head in a manner she described as
resembling �executions.� This is naked State terrorism perpetrated
on unarmed school children. The Tamil nation, both in Sri Lanka and
belonging to the Tamil Diaspora appeals to the International
Community to condemn the barbaric act of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces
and prevail on the President of Sri Lanka to take immediate and
strong action against the perpetrators.
It has also come to light that the State Armed Forces had initially
threatened the relatives of the killed to sign documents admitting
the dead belonged to the LTTE, if they wished to remove bodies for
burial and had finally relented when the bereaved stood their ground
and socially prominent persons from locality prevailed on the
authorities.
This type of terror and violation unleashed on Tamils in Sri Lanka
is on the increase after the election of President Mahinda
Rajapakse, with the support of extreme nationalists and Buddhist
chauvinists. Joseph Pararajasingham, a peace activist and a civilian
Tamil leader, was assassinated in a cathedral during midnight
Christmas service. A paramilitary group attached to State Armed
Forces has claimed responsibility. This is an act of terrorism and a
violation of the Cease Fire Agreement. Yet, the International
Community has not condemned it.
The number of persons reported missing in Tamil areas is on its
increase. The National Human Rights Commission (Jaffna office) has
admitted reporting of 35 people missing, more complaints of rape and
murder by State Armed Forces and numerous army assaults within the
last two weeks in Jaffna Peninsula. Similar condition had prevailed
in Jaffna earlier in 1996 when more than 600 persons were reported
missing and presumed
buried in Chemmani area on the outskirts of the city. Sarath
Fonseka was the commander of the Armed Forces in Jaffna, then.
Ironically, he is now the Army Commander, appointed by President
Rajapakse to execute his policy and the second wave of �persons
missing� has just resumed.
Selvam Adaikkalanathan, Member of Parliament, in a letter addressed
to the President this week, has brought to light a list of army
atrocities on civilians in Mannar district, another Tamil area under
Sri Lanka government control. This is the area where, during the
week following Christmas, the State Armed Forces set fire to
hundreds of huts belonging to war and Tsunami refugees and forced
them to take refuge again in a church. The state soldiers had killed
a father, mother and a 4 year-old child and a neighbour and fed the
raging fire. The Member of Parliament has stated that fishermen of
the area depending on their daily catch for living, have been
ordered by State Military to replace their 30 hp outboard motors
with less powerful ones, a replacement they could not afford; fuel
they carry on board has been halved; this prevents fishing deep sea
and often on return in strong currents, they burn more fuel and are
left to drift unless rescue arrives. And on days they don�t return
within stipulated time, they are beaten up by the armed forces.
In Colombo and other major cities, nocturnal searches on Tamil
homes, desecration of family bedrooms, dragging them � men and women
- in their night clothes to sites of interrogation, keeping them
wait day and night in open spaces are indignities which are on the
increase. New year eve alone saw more than one thousand Tamils
subjected to this indignity in Colombo.
The IFT considers this a war declared by the Sri Lanka Government on
the civilian population in the island. The unarmed civilians need
protection against a vindictive armed state. The International
Community must respond immediately. |
One hour ago I talked to a 20 year old Tamil boy who told me that
he had witnessed 5 friends being murdered by the Sri Lankan army in
January 2006. They were shot in the head at close range. He told me
that he was beaten and kicked on the legs and imprisoned because he
witnessed this event. He is now on Christmas Island after a
frightening boat journey from Indonesia.
Unable to sleep I opened my computer putting in the bare details of
this murder, the time and place and instantly up came the
confirmation of his story reported by international media including
the BBC.
http://www.tamilnation.org/indictment/continuingwar/060102trinco.htm#BBC1
Medical report
http://www.tamilnation.org/indictment/continuingwar/060102trinco.htm#Medical%20Report
I did this, not because I did not believe the trembling voice
which told me these horrors but because I know how easy it is to
corroborate his story and that Australia�s immigration department
know it too. However tucked away on Christmas Island with no access
to independent review, these young men�s stories will not be heard.
The Minister does not want to recognise these men and boys as
refugees no matter what the evidence so he will not do so. The
officers may assess their claims but the Minister will silence that
assessment. They will be hidden from public view and transferred to
Nauru where they will be warehoused like bits of furniture- their
pain and suffering ignored.
I asked this boy about the others. He told me that the 17 year old
boy was with them today, crying and weeping all day because he is
afraid of being sent to Nauru. He has been sent by his parents so
that he might live. My 17 year old son sleeps safe upstairs in his
bed � I can only weep for this other mother�s son fearfully awaiting
his fate from the bureaucrats with no comfort or reassurance from
loving parents.
This boy told me that many of the others have �bits of bombs inside
their bodies�. What care will they receive on Nauru? The same sort
of care which saw the 2001 asylum seekers removed from Nauru to
Australia in 2006, broken and ill. Must we see these young men whose
lives have been blighted by war, imprisonment, murder,
disappearances of friends and family- in turn languish on Nauru with
the 8 Burmese asylum seekers until they too are broken in spirit and
health. This government knows what it is doing. They know full well
the consequences of dumping refugees in limbo land and they have
decided that the human consequences do not matter.
These boys and men are being hidden for a reason. Their stories are
too compelling- their claims as refugees too strong to be denied.
Our government does not want you to hear. We have only one day. The
Sri Lankans are to be removed on Saturday to Nauru. Please deluge
Kevin Andrew�s office with calls, faxes and emails tomorrow. On his
website he says that he believes in �caring, responsive
communities�- tell him you do too and that is why you are asking him
not to transfer the Sri Lankan asylum seekers to Nauru but rather to
fairly assess their claims and give protection to those judged to be
refugees.
CONTACT
Phone: 02 6277 7860
Fax: 02 6273 4144
Email: [email protected]
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