Events were held in Batticaloa and Mannar this week to mark 39 years since Tamil prisoners were massacred at the high security Welikada prison in Colombo.
On the 25th July 1983 Sellarasa “Kuttimani” Yogachandiran, leader of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) and Ganeshanathan Jeganathan, a political writer, had their eyes gouged out in mockery before being killed by Sinhalese inmates at the high security Welikada prison in Colombo.
A total of 37 Tamil prisoners were murdered the same day, and 18 more were killed two days later.
Commemorations were organised at the TELO offices in Mannar and Batticaloa this week, where portraits of the men were garlanded and lamps lit in remembrance.
Batticaloa
Read more on the massacre here.