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Read
the press release "New IPI Campaign Calls
for Justice for Journalists Worldwide"
in English, Sinhala, Tamil
languages
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(Subramaniyam Sukirtharajan's
last name is also referred to as Sugirdharajan or Sugitharajah)
Subramaniyam
Sukirtharajan, known as SSR, was a journalist
with the popular Tamil-language daily, Sudar Oli.
He was shot dead in the eastern port city of Trincomalee
in the early morning of 24 January 2006. Sukirtharajan
was waiting for public transport to go to work at about
6 a.m. when the assailants approached on a motorbike
and fired at him from close range. He was 35 years old
and the father of two children, aged three and two.
The incident came soon
after Sudar Oli published photographs, taken
by Sukirtharajan, of five Tamil high school students
killed during the infamous Trincomalee massacre on 2
January 2006. The photos showed that the students were
shot at point-blank range, contradicting the army's
claim that the students were Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam (LTTE) terrorists killed when a grenade that they
were about to lob at government troops detonated prematurely.
(The Sri Lankan government initiated an official inquiry
into the Trincomalee massacre at the end of 2006, but
no progress has been reported in bringing those responsible
to justice.)
Sudar Oli is the
Colombo publication of the publishing house New Uthayan
Publications Ltd, which also publishes the newspaper
Uthayan in Jaffna. The Uthayan newspaper
has been subjected to terrible pressure in recent years.
Five of its media workers have been killed. Its editor-in-chief
and its news editor have been living in the newspaper's
offices for almost two years.
Staff members at Sudar
Oli have been repeatedly targeted because of the
paper's allegedly pro-LTTE stance. On 29 August 2005,
a few months before Sukirtharajan was murdered, a hand
grenade attack on the newspaper's printing press killed
a security guard, David Selvaratnum. On 23 August, a
staff journalist with Sudar Oli was roughed up and detained
by the police on suspicion of being an LTTE spy. On
20 August 2005, tragedy was only narrowly avoided when
two hand grenades that were thrown at the newspaper's
advertising department failed to detonate.
The murder of Sukirtharajan
occurred during a particularly difficult time for Sri
Lanka. In early 2006, a sudden escalation of violence
in the country threatened to put an end to the truce
signed in 2002 between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government.
Attacks against journalists, particularly those believed
to have ties to the LTTE, also increased as a consequence
of the mounting tension. The truce officially ended
in January 2008.
As of October 2008, no
official investigation has been ordered to bring to
justice those responsible for Sukirtharajan's killing.
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