There may have been evidence tampering in the investigation into the murder of seventeen aid workers killed in Sri Lanka, an international body observed last week.
Seventeen workers of Action Contre La Faim (Action Against Hunger) were murdered in Muttur in August last year, in the midst of heavy fighting between the Sri Lankan military and the Liberation Tigers.
While the government initially blamed the Tigers, international monitors accused government soldiers, and government officials too have in recent months begun to accept ‘some soldiers’ may have been responsible.
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), the body of lawyers observing the government inquiry into the murders, raised concerns over the evidence in the murder investigation via an “addendum” to their original report on the investigation.
Their concerns centered on reports by two pathologists into the caliber of bullets found in the bodies.
A government pathologist said eight bullets found in seven bodies were 7.62 calibre, which contradicted a report from an Australian pathologist that one of the eight bullets was 5.56 calibre.
Consequently, the ICJ report concluded, “there is therefore evidence to indicate that the 5.56 calibre bullet was removed from the evidence submitted as exhibits to the Kantale Magistrate, and that another bullet of a different type was substituted”.
“5.56 calibre bullets are used in M-16 riffles and that Sri Lankan Special Task Force and some Special Forces within the army and navy are known to use such weapons, and also the members of a naval special force armed with M-16s were reportedly in Muttur in early August of 2006,” the report also notes.
The ICJ report has reinforced a perception that aid workers operating in the Northeast are increasingly more threatened, with a rising number of attacks against them, and a lack of basic protection and support.
Local press reports suggest many aid workers are leaving the northeast for their own safety.
Just last month another aid worker was shot dead in the east. A Sri Lankan guard in Trincomalee shot a Filipino man from the US charity Mercy Corps as he was walking along the beach. This followed the abduction of two local Red Cross staff earlier in the month.
Further, press reports suggest members of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces and unidentified armed persons continue to intimidate and threaten other local humanitarian staff, especially employees from Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (SLHRC) based in Tamil areas.
Police officers at Jaffna University stopped a SLHRC official vehicle and harassed the officials inside, interrogating them for nearly half an hour according to press reports last week.
Similarly, Sri Lanka Army soldiers manning a check post in Panai, Jaffna stopped a SLHRC vehicle and carried out a thorough checking, lasting for about half an hour, claiming they suspected explosives hidden in the vehicle.
Though SLHRC staff have complained to senior army officials, no disciplinary action has been taken, the press reports said.
This has resulted in many SLHRC coordinating officers serving in the Jaffna peninsula leaving or contemplating relocation as they fear for their lives if they continue to serve in the north.
Seventeen workers of Action Contre La Faim (Action Against Hunger) were murdered in Muttur in August last year, in the midst of heavy fighting between the Sri Lankan military and the Liberation Tigers.
While the government initially blamed the Tigers, international monitors accused government soldiers, and government officials too have in recent months begun to accept ‘some soldiers’ may have been responsible.
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), the body of lawyers observing the government inquiry into the murders, raised concerns over the evidence in the murder investigation via an “addendum” to their original report on the investigation.
Their concerns centered on reports by two pathologists into the caliber of bullets found in the bodies.
A government pathologist said eight bullets found in seven bodies were 7.62 calibre, which contradicted a report from an Australian pathologist that one of the eight bullets was 5.56 calibre.
Consequently, the ICJ report concluded, “there is therefore evidence to indicate that the 5.56 calibre bullet was removed from the evidence submitted as exhibits to the Kantale Magistrate, and that another bullet of a different type was substituted”.
“5.56 calibre bullets are used in M-16 riffles and that Sri Lankan Special Task Force and some Special Forces within the army and navy are known to use such weapons, and also the members of a naval special force armed with M-16s were reportedly in Muttur in early August of 2006,” the report also notes.
The ICJ report has reinforced a perception that aid workers operating in the Northeast are increasingly more threatened, with a rising number of attacks against them, and a lack of basic protection and support.
Local press reports suggest many aid workers are leaving the northeast for their own safety.
Just last month another aid worker was shot dead in the east. A Sri Lankan guard in Trincomalee shot a Filipino man from the US charity Mercy Corps as he was walking along the beach. This followed the abduction of two local Red Cross staff earlier in the month.
Further, press reports suggest members of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces and unidentified armed persons continue to intimidate and threaten other local humanitarian staff, especially employees from Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (SLHRC) based in Tamil areas.
Police officers at Jaffna University stopped a SLHRC official vehicle and harassed the officials inside, interrogating them for nearly half an hour according to press reports last week.
Similarly, Sri Lanka Army soldiers manning a check post in Panai, Jaffna stopped a SLHRC vehicle and carried out a thorough checking, lasting for about half an hour, claiming they suspected explosives hidden in the vehicle.
Though SLHRC staff have complained to senior army officials, no disciplinary action has been taken, the press reports said.
This has resulted in many SLHRC coordinating officers serving in the Jaffna peninsula leaving or contemplating relocation as they fear for their lives if they continue to serve in the north.
