Jaffna Bishop seeks release of 6 Catholic priests detained in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 June 2009, 14:02 GMT]
Jaffna Bishop Rt. Rev. Joseph Saundaranayagam has despatched a letter to Defence Secretary requesting the release of six Catholic parish priests who are being held in an unknown Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camp in Vavuniyaa, sources in Jaffna said.

The six Catholic priests, namely Francis Gnanarasa Crooz, Edward Selvarasa Mariyathas, Alfred Vijaya Kamalan, Anthonipillai Anton Amalraj, Anton Stephen and Edmond Reginald who were serving as parish priests in Vanni had sought refuge in Puthumaaththa’lan during Sri Lanka government forces’ offensive on Vanni.

These priests had moved to Vavuniyaa along with the last group of Vanni civilians and are being held in an internment camp.

Jaffna Bishop has requested the Defence Secretary to help release the six priests so that they could get back to their native places.