The 55 Tamil detainees, including prominent political prisoners, killed by Sinhalese inmates at the Welikada prison in 1983 were remembered in Jaffna on Tuesday.
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.
The week of massacres of Tamils, beginning with anti-Tamil pogroms in Colombo and the South became known as Black July 1983.
A vigil was organised at the Thileepan memorial in Nallur by Northern Provincial Council member M. K. Sivajilingam and was attended by NPC Women's affairs Minister Ananthy Sasitharan, as well as other members P. Kajatheepan and Puvaneswaran.
