A commemoration event was held in Batticaloa today to mark the 32nd anniversary of the Saththurukondan massacre where 185 Tamils were slaughtered by the Sri Lankan army with the assistance of Muslim Home Guards.
On September 9, 1990, the men, women and children from Saththurukondan and surrounding villages, on the outskirts of Batticaloa, were taken to an army camp by Sri Lankan soldiers, where they were massacred.
The mass killings, which were carried out during the presidency of the UNP's Ranasinghe Premadasa, were investigated in a probe established by then-president Chandrika Kumaratunga in 1997. The probe identified three captains in the Sri Lankan army as being responsible for the killings. The retired judge who led the inquiry, K Palakidnar said that there was strong evidence for the massacre and urged Ms Kumaratunga to hold the perpetrators to account, however no action was taken by the government.
Read more on the massacre here: Remembering the Saththurukondan massacre 32 years on