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Murdered Tamil journalist Nimalarajan remembered in Vavuniya

The slain journalist Mylvaganam Nimalarajan was remembered last week to mark the 22nd anniversary of his death across the North-East.

In Vavuniya, the Association of searching the missing persons in Tamil Homeland paid their respects to the murdered journalist.

Nimalarajan contributed to the BBC for over six years, as well as the Tamil daily Virakesari and Sinhala weekly Ravaya.

He was murdered as he was writing for the BBC at home one evening. According to the BBC,

His father was repeatedly knifed and his mother and young nephew badly injured by a hand grenade explosion in their sitting room.

All this took place during curfew hours in a high security zone in Jaffna close to several military check points

The Committee to Protect Journalists stated shortly after his death:

“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. The attack occurred during curfew hours in a high-security zone in central Jaffna town.”

“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.”

The government-aligned paramilitary group the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) are suspected of carrying out the killing. Earlier last year, the Sri Lankan Attorney General's department ordered the release of the suspects involved in the murder case. At least two other suspects were thought to have been abroad.

Earlier this year, the Metropolitan Police’s War Crimes Team arrested a 48-year-old man in Britain over the murder.

Read more here: British war crimes police arrest man over murder of Tamil journalist in Jaffna

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