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Despite the INGOs unwavering confidence over its employees, one of the suspects is alleged to have close connection with an LTTE terrorist named ‘Ice Manju’, a Sinhalese LTTE assassin based in Trincomalee area, our sources said. In 2005, a body of an employee of another INGO was found with full military gear among the slain LTTE cadres who had attacked the security forces personnel. There are many other speculations on INGOs helping the LTTE to expand its bloodshed in the country. The SL government has several times requested the INGOs operating with in the country to review their recruitment mechanism since such organizations might be easily targeted by the terror moles seeking immunity over security measures. 207 On June 2, 2007, the bodies of two employees of the Sri Lankan Red Cross were found with gunshot wounds in Ratnapura district, southeast of Colombo. The dead were Karthakesu Chandramohan, age 26, and Sinnarasa Shanmugalingam, 32. The two men, both Tamils, had traveled with four Red Cross colleagues from their hometown of Batticaloa to Colombo on May 30 for a workshop on tsunami relief. The group was waiting in Colombo’s Fort railway station on June 1 for the train home when, around 6:30 p.m., a group of men in civilian clothes who identified themselves as police asked them for their identity papers. 208 According to the Red Cross, the men took Chandramohan and Shanmugalingam away in a white van for “alleged questioning.” The other four Red Cross workers lodged an entry at the nearby Fort police station. The president of the Red Cross informed the inspector general of police and the secretary to the Ministry of Defence. 209 The bodies appeared the following day in Dumbara Estate in Kiriella, Ratnapura district. 207 “Hand grenade discovery - NPSL is concerned and perplexed,” Ministry of Defence news release. 208 “Sri Lanka Red Cross Staff Killed,” BBC, June 3, 2007, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6716557.stmm (accessed June 28, 2007). 209 “Brutal Murder of Two Red Cross Volunteers,” Red Cross Society of Sri Lanka news release, June 4, 2007, http://www.redcross.lk/eh_news51.html (accessed July 16, 2007). 95 Human Rights Watch August 2007
The government dismissed the allegation that it was behind the abductions and murders as “part of the general propaganda and disinformation build-up against the president and the government.” 210 At the same time, the president ordered the police to conduct a full inquiry into the killings. According to a presidential statement, he told the Sri Lankan Red Cross and the ICRC that the government “would do everything possible to bring the perpetrators of this crime to book.” 211 He repeated the promise to top officials from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Geneva that he was committed to a full investigation that would hold the perpetrators to account. 212 In a statement, the Sri Lankan Red Cross explained how the murders will impact its work: “This act will have major impact on the volunteers of the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society as well as to the Red Cross Red Crescent movement which is the largest humanitarian organization in the world, whose mission is to alleviate human suffering. We believe that this act will jeopardize the commitment of our volunteers and have a major impact in our accessibility in delivering humanitarian assistance to the vulnerable.” Direct evidence of Karuna group threats emerged in Batticaloa district. According to humanitarian agencies working there district, the Karuna group has threatened local and international NGOs providing aid to displaced persons, trying to control the delivery of humanitarian aid and also attempting to extort from NGOs—including large international organizations that are providing services to the displaced—to buy goods from Karuna-endorsed suppliers. In one case known to Human Rights Watch, the group demanded that an international humanitarian organization purchase supplies from a distributor aligned with the group. In another case, the Karuna group 210 Presidential Secretariat, “Red Cross Workers’ Abduction and Killing – Concerted Efforts to Discredit President and Government, and Tarnish Sri Lanka,” June 4, 2007. 211 Official website of the President of Sri Lanka,“President Talking to Red Cross Representatives at the Presidential Secretariat,” June 6, 2007, http://www.presidentsl.org/data/html/news/200706/20070606news.htm (accessed June 28, 2007). 212 “Red Cross/Red Crescent Meet with Sri Lankan President in Geneva,” ICRC press release, June 14, 2007, http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/sril-lanka-news-140607!OpenDocument (accessed June 28, 2007). Return to War 96
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Sri Lanka Return to War Human Right
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Karuna group ......................
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I. Summary What I am saying is, if
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extrajudicial killings to unlawful
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2002. Since January 2006 more than
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against them, and list the location
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Emergency Regulations (372 Tamils,
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The mother of an abducted boy from
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disappearances. The police released
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commission, highlighting examples o
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Methodology This report is based pr
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discriminating against Tamils in th
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intimidation to force civilians who
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International humanitarian law proh
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in which an LTTE cadre shot and kil
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the Savukady camp in Batticaloa to
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they would no longer be responsible
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In mid-May the government began a n
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On May 29, UNHCR commented on the g
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Grama Niladari Divisions (the small
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The salvos landed in and around the
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didn’t take him to the hospital b
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While describing the loss of civili
Page 47 and 48: saw no weapons, no bunkers or artil
Page 49 and 50: V. Enforced Disappearances and Abdu
Page 51 and 52: months of 2007. 84 A government com
Page 53 and 54: In one illustrative case documented
Page 55 and 56: The Valvettiturai police registered
Page 57 and 58: would send him by bus or train to T
Page 59 and 60: wife tried his cell phone several t
Page 61 and 62: then that his brother had paid, alt
Page 63 and 64: as the disseminators of “LTTE pro
Page 65 and 66: It is evident that many of the [dis
Page 67 and 68: The government’s lack of commitme
Page 69 and 70: A lodge-owner who had 29 out of 36
Page 71 and 72: arguing that evicting Tamils from C
Page 73 and 74: VII. Emergency Regulations In Augus
Page 75 and 76: Given the wide ranging powers provi
Page 77 and 78: Large-scale arrests of Tamil youth
Page 79 and 80: held, how many had been charged wit
Page 81 and 82: Various United Nations principles i
Page 83 and 84: In addition, the regulations establ
Page 85 and 86: individuals and groups working to r
Page 87 and 88: At a public meeting on April 6, 200
Page 89 and 90: On April 30, 2007, unidentified gun
Page 91 and 92: “We have blocked it as per a gove
Page 93 and 94: conference said they had already ca
Page 95 and 96: astards with the law we need to use
Page 97: humanitarian worker with direct kno
Page 101 and 102: With the change of administration i
Page 103 and 104: IX. Karuna Group and State Complici
Page 105 and 106: stating that it “has no complicit
Page 107 and 108: of the government commission lookin
Page 109 and 110: Over the past 18 months, the govern
Page 111 and 112: Lack of witness protection A key pr
Page 113 and 114: president cannot appoint any commis
Page 115 and 116: Watch asked the Sri Lankan governme
Page 117 and 118: persons and refugees, and SLMM in r
Page 119 and 120: 7. Death of 51 persons in Naddalamo
Page 121 and 122: Members of the IIGEP have also expr
Page 123 and 124: In the current context, in particul
Page 125 and 126: domestic and international criticis
Page 127 and 128: To the Liberation Tigers of Tamil E
Page 129 and 130: • Urge the Sri Lankan government
Page 131: H UMAN R I GHTS WATCH 350 Fifth Ave
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