Almost a year after initially being summoned, Valikamam East Divisional Council chairman Thiyagaraja Nirosh has been acquitted over Maaveerar Naal commemorations, as Sri Lankan authorities cracked down on commemoration events across the North-East.
Nirosh and his deputy Kapilan were ordered to appear at Mallakam District Court last year after the police sought a court order to ban any memorial events from taking place.
They were initially charged with violating coronavirus prevention laws.
Though Sri Lankan police attempted to argue the case, the court eventually decided all charges should be dropped.
In the lead up to Maaveerar Naal last year, courts across the North-East have imposed bans on commemoration events, part of a clamp down on Tamils to deprive them of their right to mourn those who lost their lives in the Tamil struggle for freedom.
Maaveerar Naal - or Great Heroes Day - remembers those who sacrificed their lives and is marked on November 27, in memory of the first death of a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadre, Lt Col. Shankar who died in combat on November 27, 1982.
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