Return to War - Human Rights Watch

Professor S. Raveendranath, 56, vice chancellor at Eastern University in Batticaloa,
went missing from a High Security Zone in Colombo on December 15, 2006.
© 2006 courtesy of the Raveendranath family
According to Prof. Raveendranath’s family, the professor and his immediate relatives
left Batticaloa for Colombo on the night of October 1. The next day, he submitted his
resignation. Dr. Sugama was released 11 days later.
Prof. Raveendranath stayed in Colombo, where he worked for the university grants
commission. He reported receiving death threats on his cell phone. “The people who
threatened him said they would punish him and kill him if he didn’t stop working,”
his son-in-law told Human Rights Watch. 96
On December 15, Prof. Raveendranath attended a science conference near the BMICH
conference hall in Colombo, which is in a High Security Zone with a large presence of
military and police. The family expected him back for lunch but he never arrived. His
96 Human Rights Watch interview with M. Malaravan, Colombo, March 4, 2007.
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Human Rights Watch August 2007