Killings continue in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 August 2004, 04:40 GMT]
A man, suspected to be linked to a paramilitary group, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen close to a Sri Lanka army camp in Valaichenai, 32 kilometres north of Batticaloa, Friday night around 8.30. Twenty eight persons, including a senior journalist and a university academic, have been killed in areas controlled by Sri Lankan armed forces in the Batticaloa and Amparai districts since renegade LTTE commander Karuna fled the region on 9 May this year following a lightening but ruthless assault by the LTTE.
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EPDP cadre shot dead in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 August 2004, 17:44 GMT]
Unidentified gunman shot dead a paramilitary cadre of the EPDP in the heart of Trincomale town, around 9.30 p.m., Tuesday, police in the eastern port town said.
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Paramilitary operative killed in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 August 2004, 07:33 GMT]
A person believed to be a cadre of a paramilitary group working with the Sri Lankan armed forces was shot dead in Kaluthavalai, 20 kilometres south of Batticaloa, around 11.15 a.m. Friday, Police sources in the eastern town said. The man was later identified by the paramilitary EPDP as one of its cadres called 'Haran'.
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Five injured in attack on Valaichenai EPDP camp

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 August 2004, 02:52 GMT]
Five persons, including a Police constable, were wounded in a rifle grenade attack on the camp of the paramilitary group EPDP in Valaichenai, 32 kilometres north of Batticaloa, Tuesday morning around 7.45, Police said. The EPDP camp is by the Sri Lanka army camp at the Valaichenai fisheries harbour. The local EPDP leader 'Siva' (Anpunan Kandasamy) was also wounded when a rifle launched grenade hit the camp, Police said.
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RSF urges Norway to press for journalists' safety in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 July 2004, 11:07 GMT]
Reporters Without Borders Thursday urged Norway to press Sri Lankan authorities to fight impunity with which journalists are attacked in the island, particularly on its east coast. ''Since the killing of a correspondent in Batticaloa region at the end of May, without any condemnation from a single minister, two other journalists have been forced to flee the area and take refuge in the capital'', RSF said.
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Karuna meets with Sri Lankan ministers, US officials- paper

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 July 2004, 00:36 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s tourism minister and brother of President Chandrika Kumaratunga, Mr. Anura Bandaranaike, escorted the renegade LTTE commander, Karuna, to Singapore to address US officials on combating terrorism, The Sunday Leader reported this week, quoting government sources. Another government minister and a close confidante of President Kumaratunga, Mr. Mangala Samaraweera, is to meet with Karuna, the paper also said.
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EPDP protests against Norway

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 July 2004, 13:27 GMT]
More than a hundred persons demonstrated in front of the Norwegian Embassy in Colombo Friday. The demo was organised by the EPDP, a close ally of Sri Lankan President Kumaratunga, to protest against the killing of one of its cadres in Akkaraipattu on the island's Southeastern coast Wednesday. The protestors brought the body of the dead cadre in a coffin.
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Curb activities of paramilitaries, SLMM urges SL Government

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 July 2004, 12:01 GMT]
''The SLMM has strongly urged the government to take meaningful and effective action to curb the activities of paramilitary groups including that of Karuna faction and the EPDP'', Major General (retd) Trond Furuhovde, Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission told LTTE Head of Political Wing, S.P.Thamilchelvan, when both met in Kilinochchi Thursday morning, LTTE peace secretariat website said.
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EPDP cadre shot dead in Akkaraipattu

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 July 2004, 09:30 GMT]
A senior EPDP cadre in the east was shot dead by an unidentified gunman around 2.05 p.m. Wednesday in Akkaraipattu town, 64 kilometres south of Batticaloa on Sri Lanka's southeastern coast. The gunman who came on a motorbike shot the EPDP cadre six times with a pistol while armed Police guards stoodby in the town's busy public bus stand area.
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Tamil MPs slam SLA, paramilitaries for threats to media

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 July 2004, 14:14 GMT]
“Journalist Nadesan was murdered because the Sri Lankan government did not disarm paramilitary groups working with the military as it agreed to do under the cease-fire agreement. A paramilitary group in Batticaloa killed Nadesan and is threatening other independent journalists with death. This group cannot roam Batticaloa with weapons and intimidate and murder journalists without the military’s permission”, said Mr. Senathirajah Jeyanandamoorthy, Tamil National Alliance MP for Batticaloa speaking Tuesday during a debate in the Sri Lankan Parliament on the state of the media in the island.
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EPDP says party paper burnt

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 July 2004, 14:30 GMT]
Copies of a Tamil weekly 'Thinamurasu'', published in Colombo by Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) were burnt in Jaffna by unidentified persons Wednesday evening, EPDP sources said.
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Batticaloa turns nightmare for local journalists

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 June 2004, 10:28 GMT]
A journalist in Batticaloa went into hiding Friday, fearing for his life after persons suspected to be members of a paramilitary group working with the Sri Lankan military intelligence threatened him with death, family members told TamilNet. The journalist, Mr. Thanthiyan Vedanayagam, was working as the Batticaloa correspondent for the independent Tamil daily ‘Thinakkural’. Two journalists fled the eastern town earlier this month after they too were threatened with death by persons suspected to be members of a paramilitary group working with the Sri Lankan military intelligence.
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Pattern of intimidation and murder to silence independent Tamil journalists

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 June 2004, 11:50 GMT]
“Nadesan had been harassed and threatened before his death because he had criticized the government and security forces, according to CPJ research”, the New York based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said in a statement condemning the murder of the veteran Tamil journalist in Batticaloa on Sri Lanka’s east coast. Meanwhile Mr. Nadesan’s colleagues in the east demanded investigations into “the pattern of intimidation and murder to silence Tamil journalists”.
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JVP holds discussions on peace process with allies

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 May 2004, 18:10 GMT]
The leadership of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), a main constituent of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), has been holding intensive discussions with the other constituent political parties of the UPFA on the current position of the peace process, as a prelude to announcing its final stand on the Norwegian brokered peace talks between the UPFA government and the LTTE, JVP sources said Friday.


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Suspect in Nimalarajan murder allowed reduced bail

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 May 2004, 17:27 GMT]
The Jaffna Magistrate, Mr.R.T.Viknarajah, on the orders of the Court of Appeal on Monday allowed the fourth suspect, Mr.Balachchandran Uthayapavan, in the Jaffna Journalist Mylvaganam Nimalarajan' murder case, on bond signed by two sureties, who should be government servants, for one hundred thousand rupees each. The suspect is a member of a Tamil paramilitary group, the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), legal sources said.
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Suspects in Analaitivu EPDP camp fire allowed bail

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 April 2004, 14:42 GMT]
The Kayts Magistrate, Mr.A.Premashankar, Thursday released 22 residents of Analaitivu in the Jaffna district, arrested by the police in connection with the torching of a camp of the paramilitary Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) in the village on April 11th, on cash bail with two sureties, legal sources said.
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Analaitivu villagers complain of police harassment

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 April 2004, 18:07 GMT]
The Kayts Police in Jaffna district has up to now sent notices to about 35 residents of Analaitivu village to appear in the police station in regard to the alleged torching of a camp of the paramilitary Eelam People's Democratic party (EPDP) on April 11. However, five civilians who went to the Kayts Police station Wednesday morning on receipt of such notice have not returned to Analaitivu till late in the night, civil sources said.
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13 civilians remanded for allegedly torching EPDP camp

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 April 2004, 15:50 GMT]
The Kayts Magistrate, Mr.A.Premshankar, Tuesday ordered remand for thirteen suspects who were produced by the police in connection with the alleged burning down of a camp of the paramilitary Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) in Analaitivu following the April 2 general election, legal sources said.
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Nimalarajan murder inquiry report handed over to AG

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 April 2004, 15:31 GMT]
Mr.Ranjith de Silva, Officer-in-charge of the Special Investigation Unit of the Jaffna Police, Tuesday told Jaffna Magistrate Mr. R.T.Viknaraja that he had submitted the dossier of his inquiry into the murder of Jaffna based journalist Mr.Mylvaganam Nimalarajan to the Attorney General, legal sources said.
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EPDP activist remanded in Kayts murder incident

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 April 2004, 19:16 GMT]
The Kayts Magistrate, Mr. A.Premashankar, Saturday remanded Mr. Thirugnanam Sivakumar alias Velu, a key member of the paramilitary Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP), till May 1st, in connection with the murder last year of a young woman, legal sources said Monday.
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