The paramilitary leader Pillayan who is in detention over the 2005 assassination of TNA MP Joseph Pararajasingham has had his remand extended by the Batticaloa High Court.

The Batticaloa High Court judge adjourned the trial further until March 17, extending the remand of Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, alias Pillayan, formerly a deputy of LTTE defector turned paramilitary leader Karuna.

In October last year, Pillayan was visited in jail by current Sri Lankan prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Tamil journalist Puniyamoorthy Sathiyamoorthy, who was killed by Sri Lankan army shelling in the ‘No Fire Zone’ 11 years ago, was commemorated in Batticaloa this week.

Sathiyamoorthy was massacred alongside tens of thousands of other Tamils during the military offensive more than a decade ago, as he sheltered inside a government declared ‘No Fire Zone’. The area was repeatedly subjected to Sri Lankan military shelling, despite the state’s pledges.

Sri Lanka’s defence secretary lashed out at Tamil politicians this week, as he criticised demands for “devolution of power” and offered military training to Zambia.

Kamal Gunaratne celebrated the defeat of the LTTE in a meeting with a visiting Zambian army official, but claimed the “the challenge of defeating its separatist ideology still remains”.

“Some Tamil politicians are attempting to propagate it in the minds of Tamil people,” continued Gunaratne.

Sri Lanka’s former foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera claimed his regime saved current prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa from the “electric chair” and “saved” Sri Lankan soldiers from international prosecution, as he addressed parliament last week.

News First reported Samaraweera telling parliament that the former regime’s decision to co-sponsor a resolution at the UN Human Rights Council “saved Mahinda Rajapaksa from the electric chair”.

Economy Next reported that the former foreign minister added co-sponsorship “stopped international investigations against the brave soldiers who fought the war and their leaders”.

Sri Lankan security forces have released 41 Tamil youths without any charges, after they were arrested during a raid on a hotel in Maruthanarmadam in Jaffna on Monday evening.

A Sri Lankan army officer confirmed that the raid was carried out yesterday evening, with armed Special Task Force (STF) officers, following a tip off that security forces had received.

The arrested Tamils were taken to Chunnakam police station for further questioning. After interrogations and police ensuring that there were no pending arrest warrants or cases against them, all the youth were subsequently released.

A former Sri Lankan navy commander has been re-issued court summons for the fourth time in connection with the abduction and murder of 11, mostly Tamil, youths from Colombo between 2008 and 2009.

The former Sri Lankan navy chief Wasantha Karannagoda is the 14th suspect named in the case and failed to appear in court on Sunday and all previous sittings.

While evading all previous summons, Karannagoda was promoted to the highest rank in the Sri Lankan military in September by then-president Maithripala Sirisena.

Sri Lankan security forces launched a raid on a hotel in Maruthanarmadam in Jaffna, where they reportedly arrested at least forty-one Tamil youth.

The arrested Tamils have since been taken to Chunnakam police station for further questioning.

No details have been released about the operation from the Sri Lankan military, with Special Task Force Troops reportedly carrying out the hotel raid. Local sources have reported that members of the 'Aava' gang were gathered at the hotel for a birthday party.

Sri Lanka’s diplomat in Geneva met with the president of the UN Human Rights Council on Friday, where Colombo formally informed her of its intention to withdraw its co-sponsorship of a resolution that mandated a hybrid accountability mechanism to prosecute those accused of committing mass atrocities.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is exploring forming an alliance with the Sri Lankan Muslim Congress (SLMC) and Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) for the upcoming Sri Lankan general elections, according to SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem.

Hakeem said his party was looking to fight government attempts to wipe out minority parties. He claimed plans were underway to form an alliance with the TNA, JVP and sympathetic 'civil organisations'.

Charges against twelve Malaysian Tamils accused of being involved with former LTTE members have been dropped. The twelve men were arrested under the Security Offences Special Measures Act (SOSMA) last October for allegedly supporting former LTTE leaders.

Attorney General Tommy Thomas advised that holding photographs of former LTTE leaders on their mobile phones do not establish a criminal offence. The Attorney General released an eleven-page statement outlining the law and its application to the case built against the twelve men.