CID requests Allaipiddy identification parade moved out of Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 April 2007, 09:24 GMT]
Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officials investigating into the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Allaipiddy killing of August 2006 in which 11 civilians were killed, submitted a petition Thursday to Kayts Magistrate Mr. Jeyaraman Trostky, saying they had sought advice from the Attorney General to conduct the identification parade either in Trincomalee or Amparai areas, as it was not possible to organize a parade involving many soldiers in Kayts, due to the current extraordinary situation, legal sources in Jaffna said.

The petition also requested the immediate service of a forensic team from Colombo to come to Kayts and compare the bullets recovered from those killed and those of the weapons used by the SLN marines involved in the killings. The bullets from the bodies were submitted as evidence material at Kayts magistrate court, legal sources added.

Kayts magistrate who had already directed the police to conduct an identification parade of the suspected SLN marines had earlier expressed his discontent when his directive was not carried out, legal sources in Kayts said.

The next trial of the Allaipiddy killings is scheduled to May 11.

In the event of the identification parade of the suspects relocated to places out of the peninsula, the eyewitnesses who can identify the suspects, being displaced as refugees, will be effectively prevented from doing so, as most of them will not volunteer, for fear of their lives at places away from Kayts, the legal sources added.

The progress in Allaipiddy murder case, where five members of the same family were allegedly massacred by soldiers of the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN), has stalled in Kayts District Courts due to lack of co-operation from the Attorney General's (AG's) Department, lawyers associated with the case said.