Wanni Doctors Were “Coached” – Wikileaks
A US embassy cable released by the Wikileaks website last week quotes a former US official in Colombo as saying that a group of doctors who were in the Wanni during the war, had been “coached” on what to say at a press briefing in Colombo after they were arrested.
Dr T. Sathiyamoorthy, Dr T. Varatharajah and Dr. Shanmugarajah, who while in the Wanni, had made claims of heavy civilian casualties, contradicted their statements at a press briefing organised by the government in July 2009.
A secret cable dispatched in August 2009 by the Charge d’affaires of the US Embassy in Colombo James R. Moore, said that the doctors had not lied when giving their original statements to the media during the war.
Moore said in his August 2009 secret dispatch “Four government doctors, held by the police Criminal Investigation Division (CID) since the end of the war in May for allegedly filing false reports on civilian casualties in the No-Fire Zone during the last several months of the war, were released on bail today. The doctors had been pressured to give the press conference held in early July (reftel), where they recanted all the statements they had made from the No-Fire Zone. They said they were heavily coached for the press conference, given specific lines to say, and even practiced with several members of the local media beforehand. They said they had not lied when giving their original statements during the war. The release of the four doctors is a welcome step by the GSL, but clearly they remain under investigation by the CID and now also are potentially under threat of abduction or extrajudicial killing. Post will continue to monitor the situation very closely, but for now the doctors appear to want to maintain as low a profile as possible, without undue attention brought to them either in Sri Lanka or internationally”.
Wikileaks released several US embassy cables last week and among them were cables sent from the US Embassy in Colombo to the US State Department and other US officials.
Everone knows this and the Doctors had to lie in support of the brutal Rajapakse regime in fear for their lives and the loves ones.
if the doctors are set free, in an foreign nation or to an independent international investigation, the doctors will bring the real account of events and crimes to the public.
The whole world knew that the Doctors were forced to lie in front of the camera. President Rajapakse thinks he is smart and the rest of the world are fools. President and his brother Gota Rajapakse will one day face the war crime and that day the Srilankan will not want to know these two. Days are numbered.
The doctors as well as displaced who are confined in camps tell to the medias and to the world what the sl forces urged to tell but every one knew who forced them to say that. In a democratic country each citizen has freedom to speak but in sl freedom of speak dead since MR took presidency.Needless to say what is happening to the dictators in arabic world. It may repeat to the other countries as well.
If the US Embassy is so sure that the Docs were coached why don’t they give US citizenship to the four of them, take them to the White House and get them to tell their Tale to Mu Barak Obama? What about the other ordinary Tamil Refugees who also made statements against the LTTE? Were they too coached? Come on! USA! Stop conning the World!
everyone is know most Sri Lankans are captive of war criminals regardless of thier race. KP, and others are captive of war criminals. For their survival, they release statement to please war criminals. Jaffna Government agent is another person who is being coached by the war criminals.
It was not a secret then or even now as many people know what really happened.
The poor doctors were pressured to ‘lie’ at the organized press briefing. The lies
& tricks are coming out in public, one by one ! There is only a limit for covering up
any misdeeds.’Zero casualty’ ,welfare center,humanitarian rescue mission fiascoes are over and with this the ‘no fire zone’ casualty report drama is over !
Bravo Sri Lankan CID strategist , please try no more stupid fooling tricks.
Trust the Americans to come out with a statement that simply confirms what everyone else has known from day one!
What US Officials state is the gospel truth.
They can speculate or cook up, its yet the truth as well……………….
USA is now using the Wikileaks as a grease Yaka to their advantage.
USA foreign policy to the world – Either you are with us or against us.
typical cheap obama politics, wish americans throw this man out to toilet next year.
not just rajapakshas but no one can burry truth deep enough. truth will break all barrier n come out one day
The whole world knows that the government paraded those doctors with gun pointed at their heads to parrot to the media persons what was dictated to them. KP is given a VIP treatment while the hero of the war against LTTE is locked up. This tells the world that this government has no principle but only the complicity in any crime to propagate their views.
THank you Wiki leaks to the info!!!