Friday, 19 July 2013 03:58
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The Trincomalee Magistrate yesterday ordered 12 police Special Task Force (STF) to be re-remanded till 5 August over their alleged involvement in the murder of five students in Trincomalee in 2006. The Magistrate re-remanded them when they were produced in court by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID).
The incident, referred to as the Trincomalee massacre, occurred when the five Tamil high school students playing by the beach were briefly detained and then shot dead. The incident drew a huge outcry among human rights groups calling on the Government to bring to justice those killed in the incident.
The killing of the five students was also mentioned by non-governmental organisations at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in March this year. Speaking just before the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) report on Sri Lanka was adopted, the father of one of the students killed in Trincomalee broke down in tears and demanded justice for his son’s murder.
Dr. Kasippillai Manoharan, the father of Ragihar, apologised to the Council as he struggled to speak while making his speech. Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe then responded by saying that the Government is investigating the incident and needs time and space to do so. He said that having concluded the work on the five students from Trincomalee, the Attorney-General had directed the Police to commence Non-Summary Judicial proceedings.
(Colombo Gazette)
