Mr.S.S.Rajan, Trincomalee correspondent for "Sudar Oli," a Tamil
daily published from Colombo was shot dead Tuesday morning around
6:00 close to his residence while waiting for transport to his
workplace. The victim, 35-year old Subramaniam Sugirtharajan, a
father of two, has been working in the Sri Lanka Port Authority. His
residence is located along the Lower Road facing the Trincomalee
harbor in the suburb of Orr's Hill in Trincomalee. The Governor's
secretariat is situated close to the scene of crime. Police rushed
to the site and began investigation into the crime. Residents in
Trincomalee said that Rajan was instrumental in exposing the
involvement of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in the recent execution style
killing of the five Trincomalee students.
LTTE condemns Tamil journalist's killing
Trincomalee district political section of the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Tuesday condemned the killing of Mr.S.S.Rajan,
Trincomalee correspondent of the Colombo based Tamil daily 'Sudar
Oli'. "Para military groups collaborating with the Sri Lanka Army
had committed this murder", LTTE accused in a statement released
Tuesday, sources said. This is not the first time a Tamil
journalist has been killed. This is the latest murder in the series
of killing of Tamil journalists
Mr.Nimalarajan,
Mr.Nadesan and
Mr.Sivaram, said the statement.
The culprits had committed the murder in the area amid heavy
presence of soldiers of the State armed forces. The murder is an
attack not only on Tamil journalists who fight for truth without
arms, but also on Sinhala media persons, the statement said.
Free Media Movement (FMM) condemns killing
Full text of the press release follows:
The Free Media Movement (FMM) is shocked and dismayed to report
the killing of another journalist in Sri Lanka this morning.
Mr. Subramaniyam Sugirdharajan, popularly known as SSR, a
part-time provincial journalist working for the Tamil language
daily Sudaroli was shot dead in Eastern port city of Trincomalee
around 6.00 am today. He was 35 years and farther of two
children aged three and two. Assailants were on a motorbike and
fired at him from close range.
Tamil language media and journalists are under serious pressure
and have also faced numerous threats in the recent past. Four
Tamil journalists have been killed during the last 12 months by
key antagonists in the conflict. Tamil News paper offices have
been searched repeatedly by state security forces; several Tamil
journalists were assaulted and detained during the last two
months.
The Sudarorli newspaper in particular faced numerous serious
threats in the recent past. On 20th August 2005 two hand
grenades were lobbed inside its advertising office. In a grenade
attack on its printing press on 29th August 2005 its security
guard Mr. David Selvaratnum was killed. One of its journalists
was manhandled and handed over to police as a LTTE spy by
pro-government political party supporters in Colombo on 23rd
August 2005.
In this disturbing context, the FMM requests that the government
to take immediate steps to arrest the killers and and subject
them to the due process of the law. It is time to put a complete
stop to the impunity which has been the hallmark of attacks on
the freedom of expression in this country and ensure that
culprits are arrested and held account for their crimes.
|
|
Reporters sans fronti�res (RSF) Press Release, 24 January 2005
Reporters Without Borders today condemned the murder of Subramaniyam
Sugirdharajan, a correspondent of the Tamil-language daily Sudar Oli
in the eastern city of Trincomalee, who was gunned down early this
morning after writing yesterday about the abuses committed in his
region by Tamil paramilitary groups
We are horrified by the level of violence against Tamil journalists,
the press freedom organisation said.The impunity enjoyed by the
instigators and perpetrators of these murders encourages more
violence against the press We urge Prime Minister Ratnasiri
Wickremanayake to do everything possible to ensure that the police
identify and arrest Sugirdharajan�s murderers, as well as the
murderers of Relangi Sevaraja and Dharmeratnam Sivaram, who are
still at large.�
Sugirdharajan is the third Tamil journalist to have been killed in
the past 12 months Ten others have been arrested, physically
attacked or threatened by the security forces or the Tamil armed
movements
Aged 35 and the father of two small children, Sugirdharajan was a
Trincomalee port employee as well as a journalist He was shot dead
at about 6 a.m. today as he was waiting for public transport to go
to work His killers used a motor-cycle to get away after shooting
him. Police went to the scene of the murder According to the
Tamilnet website, he was gunned down near the governor�s secretariat
In an article for yesterday�s issue of Sudar Oli, he detailed the
abuses committed by Tamil paramilitary groups including the EPDP in
the Trincomalee region The newspaper also recently ran photos taken
by Sugirdharajan showing that five Trincomalee students were shot
dead at point-blank range on 2 January, disproving the army�s claim
that they were killed by a grenade explosion
Sudar Oli, which tends to support the Tamil Tigers (LTTE), was
attacked and threatened several times last year Two grenades were
thrown at the office of its advertising department on 20 August but
did not explode Three days later, a staff journalist was roughed up
and detained by the police on suspicion of being an LTTE spy. A
security guard, David Selvaratnum, was killed in a grenade attack
outside the newspaper�s office in Colombo on 29 August Sudar Oli
belongs to the Jaffna-based press group Uthayan, which has also been
the target of attacks
|
