SRI LANKA: Journalist assassinated in his home
October 20, 2000
Her Excellency Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga
President, Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
Presidential Secretariat
Colombo-1
Sri Lanka
VIA FAX: 011-94-1-333-703
Your Excellency:
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the murder yesterday
of veteran journalist Mylvaganam Nimalarajan, a Jaffna-based journalist
who reported for various news organizations including the BBC's Tamil
and Sinhala-language services, the Tamil-language daily Virakesari,
and the Sinhala-language weekly Ravaya.
CPJ appreciates today's announcement that Your Excellency has ordered
defense authorities to initiate an immediate inquiry into the assassination.
On the night of October 19, a group of unidentified gunmen approached
Nimalarajan's home, located in a high-security zone in central Jaffna
town. The assailants shot the journalist through the window of his study,
where he was working on an article, and threw a grenade into the home
before fleeing the premises.
Nimalarajan's wife immediately summoned army officers to the house, according
to a CPJ source, and the journalist was taken to Jaffna Hospital, where
he was pronounced dead. The journalist's parents and his 11-year-old nephew
were seriously injured by the grenade attack.
Local journalists suspect that Nimalarajan's reporting on vote-rigging
and intimidation in Jaffna during the recent parliamentary elections may
have led to his murder.
As a nonpartisan organization of journalists dedicated to the defense
of press freedom around the world, CPJ is deeply saddened by the assassination
of our colleague. Mylvaganam Nimalarajan was an extraordinarily courageous
journalist, working at great personal risk to report on the consequences
of the civil war on residents of the Jaffna peninsula-where one-third
of the 470,000 residents have been forced to flee their homes since fighting
intensified in the north earlier this year, according to international
relief agencies.
The course of the 17-year-old civil war between government forces and
the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam cannot be adequately reported
because of the administration's failure to grant journalists regular access
to the conflict areas. In this context, Nimalarajan's reports were a particularly
crucial source of information.
CPJ is continuing to investigate the circumstances behind the assassination
of Mylvaganam Nimalarajan, and we respectfully ask Your Excellency to
ensure that the results of the official inquiry into this case are made
public as soon as possible. Prompt action must be taken to guarantee that
the perpetrators of this terrible crime are brought to justice; if such
killings are allowed to go unpunished, no journalist is safe.
We thank you for your attention to this urgent matter, and await your
response.
Sincerely,
Ann Cooper
Executive Director
Send a letter to:
Her Excellency Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga
President, Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
Presidential Secretariat
Colombo-1
Sri Lanka
VIA FAX: 011-94-1-333-703