The Sri Lankan Minister for National Languages and Social Integration Vasudeva Nanayakkara has reportedly ‘promised’ that Tamil prisoners can receive their judiciary proceedings in Tamil, according to ColomboPage.
Hundreds of Tamil political prisoners have been languishing in jails, with legal proceedings being carried out against them entirely in Sinhalese. Cases of Tamil political prisoners being attacked and killed by security forces have also occurred this year.
However the Minister assured the prisoners that Tamil language proceedings would be provided, noting that special courts have been set up to try these prisoners, including those accused of ‘conspiring’ with the diaspora.
See the report from ColomboPage here.
Also see Nanayakkara’s praise of Sri Lanka’s human rights record in an interview earlier this month here, calling Sri Lanka “one of the best countries in the human rights practice”.
We need your support
Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.
Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view
We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.
For more ways to donate visit https://donate.tamilguardian.com.
