Report on Jaffna disappearances

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 December 1999, 11:43 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Government said today that in the final analysis regarding complaints of disappearances in the Jaffna peninsula, 16 people were ascertained as dead, 201 were found in prisons and there was no evidence at all in respect of 174, even to commence inquiries.

A press release issued by the Ministry of Defence said "inquiries in respect of 374 commenced with available evidence, but could not proceed due to inadequacy of such evidence" and added that their "relatives have been informed of this position".

The Government appointed a Board of Investigations into complaints of disappearances in Jaffna in November 1996. Over 2600 complaints were made to this board.

The statement from the defence ministry said, "there were repetitions of names", and "after detailed comparison of these names the Board decided that the allegations continued only 765 names."

"On examination of lists and information obtained from the Police stations, remand prisons and detention centres and later visits to various prisons, the Board was able to trace 201 persons in custody", the defence ministry statement said.

It further said "legal action has been initiated in the case of 14 deaths alleged to have occurred at the hands of security forces".

"One death has occurred without any trace of evidence and another death occurred in cross fire. Therefore no action has been taken regarding these two deaths", the statement said.

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