Slain Tamil journalist Subramaniyam Sugidharajan was remembered in Trincomalee and Batticaloa on January 24 to mark 19 years since his tragic death.
On January 24 2006, Sugirdharajan, a journalist at the Sudar Oli newspaper, was shot whilst waiting for transport to get to work.
Sugirdharajan had played a key role in exposing the harrowing massacre of five Tamil students at the beach in Trincomalee. Sugirdharajan accompanied Dr Manoharan,a father of one of the murdered students, to the mortuary and published photos showing the bodies with point-blank gunshot injuries. Sugirdharajan's photographs disproved Sri Lankan government claims that the students had been killed by a grenade explosion.
A remembrance event was held by media workers and press organisations at the site of Sugirdharajan's death in Trincomalee. Following the service, they gave a letter to the Eastern Governor to submit it to Sri Lankan president Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
In the letter, media organisations and civil society groups called on Dissanayake to appoint a create a commission of inquiry to investigate the deaths and forced disappearances of journalists.
"The history of Sri Lanka’s media sector has been marked by Massacre , atrocities, threats, and challenges. We hope such incidents will cease in the future," the letter said.
"Despite numerous attacks on journalists and media institutions in the North-East, none of the perpetrators or masterminds behind these crimes have been apprehended or brought to justice," the letter added.
Another commemoration was held in Batticaloa, where journalists paid their respects to Sugirdharajan.
Although 19 years have passed since Sugirdharajan's murder, no one has been held accountable for his death.