The Kumarapuram massacre, where the Sri Lankan military killed 26 Tamils, injured 24 and gang raped a 15 year old girl in a murderous rampage 29 years ago, was commemorated today.
The commemoration took place in the eastern village of Kumarapuram in Trincomalee, where flowers were laid and lamps were lit for the victims of the brutal massacre.
On the evening of February 11, 1996, a group of Sri Lankan soldiers, some of them under the influence of alcohol, charged into the village of Kumarapuram.
They subsequently killed 26 people, gang-raped a teenage girl and caused injuries to 24 others. Victim-survivors of the massacre recalled that the soldiers shouted “death to Tamils” as they rampaged through the village.
The Kumarapuram massacre took 20 years to reach trial but in 2016, six Sri Lankan soldiers who were standing trial for their involvement, were all acquitted of the 101 indictments they faced. The High Court judge overseeing the case decided the soldiers could not be prosecuted despite survivors identifying the perpetrators of the massacre.
To date, no one has been held accountable for the massacre.
The names of the victims are:
1. Subbayya Sethurasa
2. Alaguthurai Parameswari
3.Arumathurai Vallipillai
4. Kidnan Kovinthan
5. Arunasalam Thangavel
6. Sellathurai Packiyarasa
7. Vadivel Nadarasa
8. Rajenthiram Karunakaran
9. Sanmuganathan Nithanthan
10. Ramajeyam Kamaleswaran
11. Kanthapodi Kamalathevi
12. Sivakolunthu Sinnathurai
13. Sivapackiyam Nisanthan
14. Packiyarasa Vasanthini
15. Amirthalingam Rajanikanthi
16. Thangavel Kalathevi
17. Stephen Pathuma
18. Suntharalingam Prabhakaran
19. Suntharalingam Subajini
20. Kanagarasa Suvathirasa
21. Subramaniyam Packiyam
22. Vinayagamoorthy Suthaharan
23. Ananthan Annamma
24. Vijayakanth Luxmi
25. Arumathurai Thanaluxmi* There were 26 victims but one victim was not identified.