Subramaniyam Sugitharajah

CPJ’s 2012 Impunity Index spotlights countries
where journalists are slain and killers go free

Hopes that the Sri Lankan government and Tamil rebels would be able to salvage their crumbling cease-fire were dashed in 2006. By September, the military and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were again locked in combat in the north and east of the country. While the conflict looked similar to that of past years, the government did permit a freer flow of information about the separatist fighting and did not impose the censorship that had prevailed in earlier years. But impunity continued to be the rule for those who attacked journalists and media facilities, despite international pressure from press freedom and human rights groups on both sides of the conflict.

New York, August 29, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by reports that veteran Sri Lankan journalist Nadarajah Guruparan is missing and feared abducted in Colombo today.

The Free Media Movement, a local press group, reported that Guruparan, a producer, left for work at the privately owned Tamil-language radio station Sooriyan, or Sun FM, around 4 a.m. Guruparan’s family later found his empty car near his house with the engine still running and his mobile phone on the driver’s seat, The Associated Press reported, citing a colleague who requested anonymity.

New York, August 21, 2006—A Tamil newspaper editor and former member of parliament was killed outside his home on the besieged Jaffna Peninsula late Sunday, international and local media reported. Sinnathamby Sivamaharajah, managing director of the Tamil-language Namathu Eelanadu newspaper was shot dead in Vellippalai. Police are investigating the murder, according to news reports. The motive for the killing is unclear.

New York, May 2, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns today’s attack on the Tamil-language daily Uthayan. Editor N. Vithayatharan confirmed to CPJ that five masked gunmen killed two employees and wounded at least two others, one seriously, when they sprayed the paper’s office with automatic weapons fire in Jaffna.

CPJ calls on the government to fully investigate the attack and take measures to ensure the security of all media workers as more attacks undermine the increasingly unstable truce since planned peace talks faltered in April. The victims’ full names were not immediately available. Vithayatharan identified them as a circulation manager surnamed Suresh and an assistant surnamed Ranjith.

New York, January 24, 2006—An unidentified gunman killed Tamil journalist Subramaniyam Sugitharajah as the reporter was on his way to work this morning in the eastern port town of Trincomalee. Colleagues believe he was killed for his journalism.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, which is investigating the motive for the attack, called on Norwegian peace envoy Eric Solheim to raise issues of journalist security in meetings with government and Tamil rebel leaders this week. Recent violence between security forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has put the media, particularly Tamil journalists, at great risk. Solheim is in Sri Lanka in hopes of arranging peace talks between recently elected President Mahinda Rajapakse and LTTE leader Vallupillai Prabhakaran.