The DUP MP Ian Paisley Jr was suspended from parliament today for 30 days for failing to declare two family holidays that were paid for by the Sri Lankan government and later lobbying on the country's behalf against an investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity. 

MPs voted in favour of the suspension today. Meanwhile the DUP announced it would be suspending Mr Paisley pending further investigation into the matter. 

Following the suspension from Parliament, the chief electoral officer will be given ten days to establish a petition, which could lead to him standing down and a by-election if signed by 10% of his constituents. 

German Tamils held an exhibition in Berlin to mark the 35^th anniversary of the Black July pogrom and to call for justice for genocide.

Hundreds of British Tamils gathered at Downing Street in London yesterday, to commemorate the 35^th anniversary of the Black July pogrom.

Human rights activists have expressed concern about the mistreatment of a disabled former LTTE cadre, who is currently being chained to a hospital bed to receive treatment for injuries sustained in prison.

Kumarasamy Prabhakaran, a former cadre from Tharmapuram, Kilinochchi, is paralysed from the waist down.

He was arrested on 18th July in relation to a fight in the area, and remanded by the judge when produced in the court the following day.

^{File photograph: Ben Emmerson in Sri Lanka last year (Sunday Times)}

 Sri Lanka’s progress towards reform has “ground to a virtual halt” with Tamils on the island “stigmatised and disenfranchised”, concludes a United Nations report on the country’s human rights record.

The report by the former Special Rapporteur on countering terrorism Ben Emmerson, says that “none of the measures so far adopted to fulfil Sri Lanka’s transitional justice commitments are adequate to ensure real progress”.

Sri Lankan police have been accused of failing to investigate the discovery of human bones in Chemmani, Jaffna.

The bones were discovered on Friday when excavation work for a water tank was underway in the area.

Families of the disappeared in Mullaitivu, who protested for 500 days continuously seeking the whereabouts of their missing loved ones have created an office for relatives of the forcibly disappeared.  

"Our struggle is not over. Only the battlefield of protest and the form [of the protest] have changed," said the families of the disappeared. 

"Only when there is an answer for our loved ones will this come to an end," they stressed. 

A Sri Lankan army officer was arrested in Vavuniya on Saturday after he was caught by local residents trying to use a stolen ATM card to withdraw money.

The officer, whose name remains unknown, is believed to be 41 years old and attached to Mullaitivu army camp. 

He was found with 85,000 rupees on his person. 

A Black July commemoration was held by the Tamil National People's Front today.

Marking 35 years since the pogrom of Black July 1983, PEARL called for justice for historic and recent genocides. 

"On the 35th anniversary of the start of “Black July” 1983, PEARL remembers the Tamil victims, survivors, and generations affected by all of Sri Lanka’s atrocities against the Tamil people. Thirty-five years ago this week, the government of Sri Lanka sponsored a brutal anti-Tamil pogrom, tantamount to genocide, that killed more than 3000 Tamils."

"In honor of the dead and in solidarity with the surviving victims of anti-Tamil pogroms and massacres, PEARL calls on states to recognize the Black July and 2009 atrocities as genocide. We ask states to exert pressure on Sri Lanka to demilitarize the North-East and implement strict vetting processes to keep known genocidaires and other human rights violators out of the security forces. We further urge states to impose sanctions on Sri Lanka until it establishes a special judicial mechanism with foreign judges, prosecutors, and lawyers to investigate and prosecute atrocities, including genocide, in accordance with its commitments made in Resolution 30/1."