A Sri Lankan court has sentenced five Sri Lankan police officers over their role in the killing of eight Tamils in 1998, an incident dubbed the Thampalakamam massacre, more than 26 years after the murders.

The US Ambassador to Sri Lanka celebrated the Tamil and Sinhala New Year alongside a Sri Lankan commander who is currently barred from entering the US over his role in executing Tamils.

Slain Tamil journalist Dharmeratnam Sivaram was remembered in Batticaloa, Jaffna, Mullaitivu and Vavuniya today to mark 19 years since his abduction and murder. 

This month marked the anniversary of the deadly 2019 Easter Sunday attacks, which killed hundreds in hotels and churches across the island. Five years have passed, and there are now more questions than answers - particularly around the role of the Sri Lankan state. What has become increasingly clear, however, is that Sri Lanka remains incapable of transparency, and of delivering justice to the victims and their families. As even the most hardcore proponents of domestic mechanisms have come to realise, just like for the atrocities before them, the Easter Sunday attacks deserve international accountability.

^{Image courtesy of Tamil Narratives}

Today marks the 19th anniversary since the abduction and murder of Tamil journalist Dharmeratnam Sivaram.

Father Cyril Gamini Fernando, the spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Colombo, was summoned to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), just days before Sri Lanka marked the 5th anniversary of the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings last week.

The bombings, which occurred on April 21, 2019, claimed the lives of 268 people and injured more than 500 others.

Sri Lanka’s Minister of Public Security Tiran Alles told officers from the notorious Special Task Force (STF) that it is “not a sin to eliminate” those accused of drug trafficking, as he urged troops to “use your weapon without fear”.

"We will stand for you," he told the officers, as Sri Lanka’s police force introduced a new motorcycle squadron to purportedly tackle the trade of narcotics.

High Court judge Ilancheliyan appeared before Jaffna courts this week, where he provided a statement over a 2017 assassination attempt on his life, that saw a Sri Lankan police constable killed.

Judge Ilancheliyan was flanked by a police escort along with paramilitary troops, while security was beefed up around the court complex. 

An event was held at the historic Sorbonne University in Paris last week, under the theme “The Rights of the Tamil People in Sri Lanka”.

The UK government said it “continues to be concerned by increasing tensions around land" in the North-East in response to a question raised by Scottish National Party (SNP) MP Patrick Grady about the arrest of eight Tamils at Vedukkunaari Hill temple in Vavuniya last month. 

In her response, Anne-Marie Trevelyan the Minister of State for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: