The University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) in Special Report No: 33 re-leased on August 4, three years to the date since one Muslim and 16 Tamil ACF workers were shot execution style at point blank range in Mutur, maintain the investigation that followed was a travesty of justice and an indication of the future of minorities in Sri Lanka.

Three years ago, on August 4, 2006 around 4.15 p.m, one Muslim and 16 Tamil ACF aid workers were forced to their knees, begging for their lives, and shot execution style at point blank range in their office compound in Mutur, Sri Lanka. The victims of this crime were not caught in cross fire, killed accidently or mistaken for combatants in the midst of an encounter. They were sought out and murdered. Available evidence points to the responsibility of police officers and Muslim home guard members who acted in the presence of Army commandos.

The UTHR report points out that, in this, or any premeditated crime of this nature, the state has a responsibility to independently determine the facts of the case and the identity of the perpetrators. The government has not only failed to fulfil this duty, it has obstructed efforts to do so through the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI), the report states. Currently, turning the scales of justice completely upside-down, the government is pointing the finger at the organisation for which the victims worked, the ACF, and accusing it of negligence. In light of the government’s recent claim that the CoI has found the LTTE to be fully responsible for this crime, the UTHR report through a thorough review of earlier reports, together with new evidence gathered and assessed, affirms its earlier findings that the 17 aid workers were killed by at least one member of the Muslim home guard (Jehangir) and two police constables (Susantha and Nilantha) in the presence of military commandos

The report stands by its earlier concerns regarding the cover up of bullet types used by the assailants and unprofessional nature of the Australian expert’s decision to retract his earlier identification of a 5.56 mm bullet.

This report also critically examines the CoI proceedings and actions by the government in the context of the CoI’s efforts. In addition to favouring witness testimonies at the CoI that were sympathetic to the government’s position, the Government of Sri Lanka and its proxies it says engaged in systematic intimidation and harassment of witnesses and families that had refused to support the government’s patently false position.

The government made sure there was no proper witness protection in place, and any support by a commissioner for a witness facing fear and isolation was used to discredit both. The police investigation unit of the CoI came to function as an intimidation unit towards the witnesses, making sure that the truth was suppressed. The presidential order to stop video conferencing of testimony by witnesses who had to flee the country was another blatant move to suppress the truth.

The UTHR report further states that family members of victims were harassed and threatened to such a level that their lives in Trincomalee became unbearable and some were forced to flee the country. The report adds that in an attempt to debunk evidence that consistently pointed to State responsibility for the ACF murders, the government has carried out a series of actions through the CoI including attempts to provide or assert alibis for certain persons the UTHR named as the killers in their report in April 2008; attempts to advance the time of the killings to make the LTTE’s guilt more plausible; attempts to post date by two days the police’s knowledge of the killings; attempts to discredit the finding that commandos were involved by denying that the commandos ever went out with the Muslim home guard.