Incidents involving the LTTE outside Sri Lanka: 2015

Date

Nature of incident

March 3

South Africa

South Africa had told the former Sri Lankan Government that the LTTE was not operating in South Africa as was alleged at the time, Al Jazeera said quoting a secret cable. According to the report the previous Sri Lankan Government was told quite plainly that, at least in the case of South Africa, the LTTE posed no threat at all, according to a secret intelligence agency cable (PDF) obtained by Al Jazeera's investigative unit. In the cable, dated June 9, 2010, South Africa's State Security Agency (SSA) replied to a request for information about several cases of purported LTTE activity in South Africa, from a suspected "military training camp" held in May 2010 to suspicions that local Tamil organizations were raising money for the LTTE and allegations that the LTTE was in contact with former members of the South African military. In every case, South African intelligence concluded that there was no sign of LTTE activity or support in the country. "The LTTE does not have any offices or known representatives in South Africa," the cable states.

Filmmaker Callum Macrae who exposed Sri Lanka's war crimes and took the famous picture of LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran's son eating a snack just before he was shot dead will release a new Sinhala version of his award winning documentary "No Fire Zone" in the premises of the House of Commons (UK). According to report, Britain's relation with Sri Lanka may soon sour over the film. The launch will be attended by director Callum Macrae and will have the presence of British MPs - Labour MP Siobhain McDonagh, Conservative MP Lee Scott and others from Parliament.

A group of pro- LTTE British Tamils gathered at Westminster Abbey in London to protest the new Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena's participation in the Commonwealth Day celebrations held in London. According to the report, upon seeing the protesters, President Sirisena, who is the current Chair-In-Office of the Commonwealth, alighted from his official motorcade and greeted the protesters waving at them. The protest against the visiting President was organized by the British Tamils Forum (BTF). The President was attending the Commonwealth Day service held at Westminster Abbey. The event was attended by the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and representatives of Commonwealth Nations.

British writer-filmmaker Callum Macrae has urged Indian PM Narendra Modi to "show courage and commitment" in pushing Sri Lanka to address war crimes ahead of his visit to Colombo. Macrae said "(The Sri Lankan Government should) allow a genuinely independent international process of justice - something which can command support and trust of all communities of Sri Lanka." The filmmaker, who took the picture showing LTTE 'chief' Velupillai Prabhakaran's son eating a snack before he was shot dead and helped expose war crimes, said he wants to persuade Modi to intervene. Macrae recently released a Sinhala version of his award winning documentary, 'No Fire Zone' that has been nominated for the Emmy Award. India has refused visa to Macrae and certification for his film for screening, explaining in part it might "strain friendly relations with Sri Lanka". Macrae called New Delhi's attitude a cause of concern. "The refusing of a certificate on the openly political grounds...was a shameful episode - as was, quite frankly, the refusal to grant me visa,'' he said. "Now that both the Government in Sri Lanka and the Government in India have changed, I hope that the certification will be granted and that when I re-apply for a visa, it too will be granted."

India's Central intelligence agencies have launched a major investigation into a "specific tip-off" that Naxals were now getting sophisticated weapons through the sea route from Sri Lanka. Top Indian intelligence sources claimed that they had received information some time back that Naxals were routing arms and ammunition through the sea route through an arms cartel which was suspected to be earlier providing weapons to the LTTE as well. It is suspected that the weapons are coming through Sri Lanka using the sea route, sources added. Report said that the intelligence officials are worried about this new "supply route" being used by the Naxals to procure sophisticated weapons, including the AK-series rifles, landmines, grenade launchers, communication equipment and even NVDs.

Five Dutch nationals of Sri Lankan origin have been jailed for between nineteen months and six years three months for raising money for LTTE. The appeal court ruled the five, who range in age from 43 to 60, were members of the LTTE and had raised money for the terror group between 2003 and 2010. The charges involved threatening people who refused to make donations and organizing illegal lotteries, the court said.

UK

Two pro-LTTE Conservative candidates, MPS in the last Parliament, Lee Scott and Nick De Bois, were routed in May 7 British elections. According to the political observers, their failure to win their constituencies is considered a big blow to LTTE propaganda in the UK. Amal Abeyawardene of the CFSL said that the outcome of the British election is good news for Sri Lanka.

A statue resembling slain LTTE leader Velupillai Prabakaran installed in a private temple at Therkku Poigainallur village near Velankanni in Nagapattinam District in Tamil Nadu (India) has caused a flutter in the locality. The statue resembling Prabakaran in camouflage uniform with a horse in the background was installed on the campus of the Periyachi Amman Temple built in the village. Police sources said that no case has been registered so far in this connection.

Nagapattinam District / Tamil Nadu / India

The statue of slain LTTE leader Veluppillai Prabakaran at a private temple at Therkku Poigainallur village near Velankanni in Nagapattinam District in Tamil Nadu (India) was removed. There were literally no symptoms of the statue being installed on the premises of Sevugaraya Ayyanar and Periyachi Amman temple, which was consecrated on June 4. Police, Revenue and Intelligence officials conducted an enquiry in the village and questioned a group of organisers, who were involved in the construction and consecration of the temple. When the implications of installing a statue of leader of a banned organisation was explained to them, they agreed to remove it, Police sources said.

DMK MP Kanimozhi dismissed as "completely baseless" the claim of Ananthy Sasistharan that her husband, who was a senior functionary of the LTTE, surrendered to the Sri Lankan forces on her (Kanimozhi's) advice. "I am not an authority to ask someone to surrender either on behalf of the Indian Government or the Sri Lankan Government. I do not know who is behind this story," Kanimozhi said.

Ireland

The controversial documentary on Sri Lanka's war against LTTE terrorists, 'No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka' has reportedly been screened in the Irish Parliament. According to foreign media reports, Member of Irish Parliament Paul Murphy has hosted the event with the attendance of Irish MPs, the film's director Callum Macrae, exiled Sri Lankan journalist Bashana Abeywardena and investigative reporter on Sri Lanka Phil Miller. Murphy had described the film, which has been shown in the European Parliament recently as a "powerful indictment of the massacre of the Tamils in Sri Lanka at the end of the war."

Washington, Unites State

United State Department of State in its Annual Country Report on Terrorism for 2014 released said that despite the military defeat of the LTTE at the hands of the Government in 2009, the LTTE's financial network of support had continued to operate throughout 2014.

Police arrested a former militant of the proscribed LTTE, identified as K Krishnakumar (39) and recovered 75 cyanide capsules, 300 grams of cyanide, four GSP sets and seven mobile phones at coastal Uchipulli in Ramanathapuram District of Tamil Nadu (India). Acting on a tip-off, a Special Branch team, led by Inspector of Police Vellaiyappan arrested the Sri Lankan Tamil along with two local Tamils R Sasikumar (25) and N Rajendran (44), who reportedly brought him from Madurai bus stand in a car to Uchipulli, Police said. According to report, the seizure of the suicide pills carried by the LTTE militants tied around their necks triggered speculation that the LTTE was trying to revive the movement after it was defeated by the Sri Lankan forces in the civil war, which ended in 2009. The Police also seized seven mobile phones, INR 46,200 in Indian currency, LKR 19,300 in Sri Lankan currency, Indian and Sri Lankan driving licences from the Lankan Tamil, K Krishnakumar, who had served in the LTTE in the 1990s and came to Tamil Nadu in 2009.

One of the two Sri Lankan Tamils arrested on July 20 along with communication gadgets and cyanide in Ramanathapuram District of Tamil Nadu (India), has been identified as Krishnakumar, a close associate of slain LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran, said the Indian Police. A top Police officer said that sleuths from IB, Tamil Nadu 'Q Branch' Police, and Special Intelligence Unit are now interrogating the LTTE militant, arrested along with two others during a routine vehicle check at Uchipuli in the Ramanathapuram District. Police also said all coastal Districts in the state had been alerted to monitor for movement of members of LTTE and checkposts asked to be extra vigilant. It was suspected Krishnakumar would have arrived in the country in the immediate aftermath of the decimation of LTTE and killing of Prabhakaran by Sri Lankan SFs in 2009, Police said. The arrested were identified as Krishnakumar, Rajendran, also a Sri Lankan national, and Sasikumar, a local who drove the car.

Tamil Nadu Police suspects that the arrested LTTE operative was possibly smuggling materials like cyanide capsules and GPS equipment to some people in Northern Province of Sri Lanka. Police said, Krishnakumar had been staying in Trichy and had lot of contacts at refugee camps in Chennai and Trichy. Krishnakumar was trying to leave the country as his marriage was getting fixed in Jaffna. But he could not go legally since he feared that his name was in the LTTE cadre list and he may be detained as soon as he landed in Sri Lanka. Krishnakumar was transporting these materials to some people in Jaffna and Police sources speculated that there is some regrouping of LTTE going on in Sri Lanka, though they suffered a fatal defeat in the civil war of 2009. The exact sources who provided him cyanide and the people to whom he was transporting the materials will be known after thorough investigation, Police said.

The Madras High Court Bench set aside an "illegal conviction and seven-year sentence" imposed by a trial court on three people, alleged to be LTTE sympathisers, on charges of conspiring to smuggle acetone, glycerine, formaldehyde and dicyanamide to Sri Lanka for making explosive substances and indulging in unlawful activities in 2008. Disposing of appeals filed by them, Justice S. Nagamuthu ordered retrial in the case since the 'Q' branch Police and the lower court had made "grave mistakes" in the trial that led to their conviction on March 4, 2015. He pointed out that there were inconsistencies between charges framed against the accused and the charges under which they had been convicted.

The Tiruchirappalli City Police arrested a former member of the LTTE, identified as A. Kumaraguru (39) at the Tiruchirappalli International Airport in Tiruchirappalli (Trichy) District of Tamil Nadu (India) before he could board the flight to Malaysia. Police also arrested G. Thirumurugan (30), a native of Uppur in Ramanathapuram District and Mubarak Ali for assisting him acquire an Indian passport. Police said Kumaraguru was a member of the LTTE from 1992 to 1997 and had lost his right leg while fighting the Sri Lankan SFs during that period.

Tiruchirappalli (Trichy) District / Tamil Nadu / India

Investigators of the Tamil Nadu 'Q' branch Police interrogated LTTE) operative A Kumaraguru, who Police arrested at Tiruchirapalli International Airport in Tamil Nadu in India on July 26 when he attempted to flee to Switzerland with a fake passport. Officers of the Police's special anti-terror wing said they questioned Kumaraguru about his links to an arrested member of the rebels, Krishnakumar, and his associates in Ramanathapuram (Tamil Nadu). Investigators said Kumaraguru lost his right leg in the civil war in Sri Lanka and used a prosthetic limb. Kumaraguru and his wife Sudharsini arrived in Chennai in 2014 and lived in Choolaimedu, where a member of a Tamil outfit gave them shelter.

Tiruchirappalli District / Tamil Nadu / India

A Sri Lankan Tamil, Maheswaran, a supporter of the banned LTTE housed in the special camp in the Tiruchi prison campus in Tiruchirappalli District of Tamil Nadu reportedly attempted to end his life by consuming sleeping tablets.

A UK based human rights organization, Freedom from Torture, has alleged in its new report entitled 'Tainted Peace' that torture by Sri Lanka's state agencies of Tamils seen to have links to the LTTE continued unabated well after the end of the civil war in May 2009. The report claims that the medico-legal reports in the cases of 148 survivors shows that they were subjected to a range of torture methods that included brutal beatings (100 per cent of the 148 cases), burning (78 per cent) and sexual torture (71 per cent), as well as asphyxiation techniques (38 per cent), forms of suspension (45 per cent) and solitary confinement (70 per cent). The report says the eradication of torture by the military and Police is "one of the most urgent tasks" that the Government to be elected on August 17 must address. Of the survivors, 93 per cent were tortured because of real or perceived links to the LTTE, and that in a majority of cases (139 out of 148) the victims were Tamil. More than a third of the Tamils who survived torture were those who had returned to Sri Lanka from the UK, usually following a period of study or work, often when visiting their families back home the report claims.

The STF of the Kolkata Police arrested five Sri Lankan nationals, allegedly former LTTE members, and two Indians from a hotel in Chadni Chowk in Kolkata (West Bengal, India). The seven were picked up from Hotel Chandni International, located in the central part of the city, by the STF late on August 14 night in a joint operation with personnel of the Bowbazar Police Station, a senior officer of the Kolkata Police's STF section said. "They have failed to show proper papers about their identities and their travelling papers to India. They have entered the country on forged documents. We suspect that they probably have used waterways to enter Chennai," the officer said. The two Indians, residents of Tamil Nadu, had helped the five Sri Lankans in travelling to Kolkata and probably with the false documents, he said.

According to the Police, two of them - Guna Sekharan and Bala Singham are senior leaders of the LTTE. Police are checking if they came for any operations or for any reconnaissance. The Police are interrogating them to find if they had links with Maoists, as there are reports that the Maoists are gradually regrouping in Bengal and have plans to start guerilla warfare in Jungalmahal area of Bengal. Moreover, the Police are also probing if LTTE was supplying arms to the Maoists.

Dismissing suggestion that the five Sri Lankans arrested from a city hotel in Kolkata (West Bengal, India) have connection to a "terror group", the Kolkata Police said it has started looking for those who brought them to the city promising fake passports and help getting jobs in France. The five Sri Lankans, allegedly former members of the LTTE, were arrested by Kolkata Police STF section from a city hotel with fake documents on August 14.

The LTTE launched a new Tamil Television channel 'Deepam' targeting European, Sri Lankan and South India Tamils. The station is run by Nediyawan, the LTTE leader based in Norway, who coordinated LTTE activities overseas on behalf of the LTTE International Secretariat. Perimpanayagan Sivaparam known widely as Nediyawan is opposed to TNA. He believes that the fight for separatism initiated by LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran should continue.

The much-awaited report of the OISL will be made public on September 16. The report, concerning alleged war crimes, is a result of a resolution adopted in March 2014, calling upon the Commissioner to "undertake a comprehensive investigation into alleged serious violations and abuses of human rights and related crimes by both parties in Sri Lanka during the period covered by the LLRC." The LLRC dealt with the period between February 21, 2002 and May 19, 2009, signifying two events - the commencement of a ceasefire agreement between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE and the end of the Eelam War. Announcing this during the inauguration of the 30th session of the UNHCR in Geneva, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said that along with the report, he would make his recommendations. According to a press release issued by the UN, a press conference would be held in Geneva on September 16, at 10. 30 am (local time).

The independent Brussels-based ICG says pursuing cases against former LTTE leaders who worked closely with the Former president Mahinda Rajapaksa government will be important to address Sinhalese perceptions that accountability is biased against the military. Releasing a statement on the Report of the UN Investigation on Sri Lanka, the ICG said it is important to pursue cases against LTTE leaders such as K. Pathmanathan ("KP") and V. Muralitharan ("Karuna"), and any other senior LTTE leaders who may be overseas to address the Sinhalese community's concerns on an investigation by the UN Human Rights Chief proposed "Hybrid Court". The Group said the report by the UN OHCHR on its OISL is a "compelling examination" of the abuses committed by all sides during the lengthy civil conflict and the steps required to pursue justice, accountability and reconciliation as part of democratic recovery.