Mylanthanai massacre

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Mylanthanai massacre
Location	Mylanthanai, Batticaloa, Sri Lanka
Date	August 9, 1992 (+6 GMT)
Attack type	Armed massacre
Weapon(s)	Automatics rifles, Knives, axes
Deaths	35
Perpetrator(s)	Disputed

Sri Lankan Conflict
Background
Sri Lanka • History of Sri Lanka
Origins of the Civil War
Origins of the Civil War Black July • Riots and pogroms Human rights • Allegations of state terror Tamil militant groups
LTTE
LTTE • Attacks • Expulsion of Muslims from Jaffna
Current major figures
Mahinda Rajapaksa Velupillai Prabhakaran Karuna Amman Gotabaya Rajapaksa Sarath Fonseka
Indian Involvement
Operation Poomalai Indo-Sri Lanka Accord Indian Peace Keeping Force Rajiv Gandhi • RAW
See also
Military of Sri Lanka TMVP • EPDP Notable assassinations • Child soldiers This box: view • talk • edit

The Mylanthanai massacre happened on August 9, 1992 when 35 minority Sri Lankan Tamils, including 14 children, at Mylanthanai in Batticaloa District in Sri Lanka, were killed.^[1]

Sri Lankan Army soldiers from an army camp in Punanai were initially accused of the crime,^[2] but they were acquitted by the unanimous verdict of a jury in Colombo.^[3]

1 Incident
2 Government investigation
3 Controversy over acquittal
4 See also
5 References

[edit] Incident

On August 9, 1992 according to the government prosecutor Sri Lankan Army soldiers attacked the village of Mylanthanai, after the army's commanding officer in Jaffna was killed along with seven soldiers in a landmine explosion earlier the same day.^[4] According to the pro-rebel Tamilnet reporting on the court proceedings, an eye witness Ms Sinnathurai Indrakala, 28 was quoted as saying,that the soldiers had used guns, knives and axes to carry out the murders. Children as young as 1 to 15 were amongst the dead.^[5]

[edit] Government investigation

The government reaction was swift, according to the Sri Lanka Monitor, a reporting organization in the ongoing Sri Lankan Civil War, a line-up was held at Batticaloa Magistrate’s Court on April 2, 1993. Survivors of the killings identified 24 soldiers.^[2]

The Attorney General at the time transferred the case to Polonnaruwa District. He then transferred the case again to Colombo on the grounds of safety for the accused. This arrangement made it difficult for witnesses who were survivors to appear. The indictment was filed in Colombo High Court in September 1999.^[2]

More than 30 eye witnesses came from Batticalao along with coroner who conducted most of the autopsies and the presiding regional judge. Eye witness accounts from dead persons were also allowed to be read in the case. After an extensive hearing the case went before the jury. The jury found the soldiers not guilty. The Judge requested the Jury to reconsider the verdict but the jury found the accused soldiers not guilty again. The attorney general turned down the request of the victims representatives to appeal.^[2]^[6]

[edit] Controversy over acquittal

Human rights agencies^[who?] and relatives of victims expressed shock after 18 soldiers accused in the Mylanthanai case were released on 27 November.^[2] A local Human Rights agency UTHR considered the jury's verdict unfair and reported that about the lack of expression of concern over the verdict among the international community.^[7]

According to Northeastern Herald, although the constitution provides room for appalling such cases, the Attorney General refused to appeal the verdict citing convention.^[8]