Sri Lankan rights group University Teachers for Human Rights (UTHR) finds state security forces responsible for the murders of 17 Action Contre La Faim (ACF) aid workers.
In its 29-page report released today, it names a local Muslim home guard and two constables as the killers of most of the group, which took place around 4.30 pm on 4 August 2006. The report details the killings, the role of senior police officials in the murders, and criticises the government’s failure in properly investigating the crime.
Sources
Report details Sri Lanka aid massacre, blames forces, Reuters, 1 April 2008; Sri Lanka defends lengthy inquiry into the massacre of 17 charity workers, The Independent, 3 April 2008.
Quotations
“The evidence shows state security forces, including police, killed the 17 aid workers and that senior police officers covered it up…The killing of civilians during time of conflict is a war crime. The perpetrators and their superiors should be brought to justice.” Rajan Hoole, University Teachers for Human Rights.
“It does more than name the names of those responsible for the brutal ACF killings. It shows the government investigations into the massacre were little more than a bad joke played out on the victims’ families and the international community.” James Ross, Senior Legal Adviser, Human Rights Watch.
“We want the truth to come out. We can’t dictate the course of justice, we can only encourage the process by facilitating its work.” Rohitha Bogollagama, Foreign Minister.
“The country has learnt to be comfortable with grave crimes going unpunished one after another, with the certainty that even graver ones would follow. The answer to the question why Sri Lanka is steeped in recurrent gross crimes, especially against the minorities, that go unchecked is not far to seek. For years, the state has gone on denying, obfuscating, abusing detractors, intimidating or killing witnesses and making matters progressively worse.” Unfinished Business of the Five Students and ACF Cases – A Time to call the Bluff, Special Report No.30, University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) Sri Lanka, 1st April 2008.
Related events
4 August 2006
6 November 2006
5 July 2007
23 April 2007
6 March 2008
