Justice demanded for murdered journalists at Jaffna rally

by Sivakami
Jan 26, 2019

Protesters demanded justice for murdered journalists today at a rally in Jaffna. 

The rally marked the 13th anniversary of the murdered Sudar Oli journalist, Subramaniyam Sugirdharajan, who was shot dead in Trincomalee after exposing the Sri Lankan Special Task Force's killing of 5 Tamil students, known as the 'Trinco 5'.  

Sugirdharajan had accompanied one of the father of the murdered students, Dr Manoharan to the mortuary and published photos showing the bodies with point-blank gunshot injuries, thereby disproving government claims that the students had been killed by a grenade explosion.

The family of Subramaniyam Sugirdharajan mourn besides his body after he was gunned down in Trincomalee 

The 'Trinco 5' – remains one of the highest profile killings in Sri Lanka to receive international attention, listed in 2014 by the then UN High Commissioner for Human Rights' report on the island as one of four ‘emblematic cases’ of the government's failure to ensure accountability and having been raised repeatedly in international forums.

To date no one has been held accountable for the Trinco 5 murders or for the killing of Sughirdharajan. 

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