 Mr.S.S.Rajan, Trincomalee correspondent for "Sudar Oli," a Tamil daily published from Colombo was shot dead Tuesday morning around 6:00 close to his residence while waiting for transport to his workplace. The victim, 35-year old Subramaniam Sugirtharajan, a father of two, has been working in the Sri Lanka Port Authority. His residence is located along the Lower Road facing the Trincomalee harbor in the suburb of Orr's Hill in Trincomalee. The Governor's secretariat is situated close to the scene of crime. Police rushed to the site and began investigation into the crime. Residents in Trincomalee said that Rajan was instrumental in exposing the involvement of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in the recent execution style killing of the five Trincomalee students. LTTE condemns Tamil journalist's killing
Trincomalee district political section of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Tuesday condemned the killing of Mr.S.S.Rajan, Trincomalee correspondent of the Colombo based Tamil daily 'Sudar Oli'. "Para military groups collaborating with the Sri Lanka Army had committed this murder", LTTE accused in a statement released Tuesday, sources said. This is not the first time a Tamil journalist has been killed. This is the latest murder in the series of killing of Tamil journalists Mr.Nimalarajan, Mr.Nadesan and Mr.Sivaram, said the statement.
The culprits had committed the murder in the area amid heavy presence of soldiers of the State armed forces. The murder is an attack not only on Tamil journalists who fight for truth without arms, but also on Sinhala media persons, the statement said. Free Media Movement (FMM) condemns killing
Full text of the press release follows:
The Free Media Movement (FMM) is shocked and dismayed to report the killing of another journalist in Sri Lanka this morning.
Mr. Subramaniyam Sugirdharajan, popularly known as SSR, a part-time provincial journalist working for the Tamil language daily Sudaroli was shot dead in Eastern port city of Trincomalee around 6.00 am today. He was 35 years and farther of two children aged three and two. Assailants were on a motorbike and fired at him from close range.
Tamil language media and journalists are under serious pressure and have also faced numerous threats in the recent past. Four Tamil journalists have been killed during the last 12 months by key antagonists in the conflict. Tamil News paper offices have been searched repeatedly by state security forces; several Tamil journalists were assaulted and detained during the last two months.
The Sudarorli newspaper in particular faced numerous serious threats in the recent past. On 20th August 2005 two hand grenades were lobbed inside its advertising office. In a grenade attack on its printing press on 29th August 2005 its security guard Mr. David Selvaratnum was killed. One of its journalists was manhandled and handed over to police as a LTTE spy by pro-government political party supporters in Colombo on 23rd August 2005.
In this disturbing context, the FMM requests that the government to take immediate steps to arrest the killers and and subject them to the due process of the law. It is time to put a complete stop to the impunity which has been the hallmark of attacks on the freedom of expression in this country and ensure that culprits are arrested and held account for their crimes.
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| Reporters sans frontières (RSF) Press Release, 24 January 2005 Reporters Without Borders today condemned the murder of Subramaniyam Sugirdharajan, a correspondent of the Tamil-language daily Sudar Oli in the eastern city of Trincomalee, who was gunned down early this morning after writing yesterday about the abuses committed in his region by Tamil paramilitary groups
We are horrified by the level of violence against Tamil journalists, the press freedom organisation said.The impunity enjoyed by the instigators and perpetrators of these murders encourages more violence against the press We urge Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake to do everything possible to ensure that the police identify and arrest Sugirdharajan¹s murderers, as well as the murderers of Relangi Sevaraja and Dharmeratnam Sivaram, who are still at large.²
Sugirdharajan is the third Tamil journalist to have been killed in the past 12 months Ten others have been arrested, physically attacked or threatened by the security forces or the Tamil armed movements
Aged 35 and the father of two small children, Sugirdharajan was a Trincomalee port employee as well as a journalist He was shot dead at about 6 a.m. today as he was waiting for public transport to go to work His killers used a motor-cycle to get away after shooting him. Police went to the scene of the murder According to the Tamilnet website, he was gunned down near the governor¹s secretariat
In an article for yesterday¹s issue of Sudar Oli, he detailed the abuses committed by Tamil paramilitary groups including the EPDP in the Trincomalee region The newspaper also recently ran photos taken by Sugirdharajan showing that five Trincomalee students were shot dead at point-blank range on 2 January, disproving the army¹s claim that they were killed by a grenade explosion
Sudar Oli, which tends to support the Tamil Tigers (LTTE), was attacked and threatened several times last year Two grenades were thrown at the office of its advertising department on 20 August but did not explode Three days later, a staff journalist was roughed up and detained by the police on suspicion of being an LTTE spy. A security guard, David Selvaratnum, was killed in a grenade attack outside the newspaper¹s office in Colombo on 29 August Sudar Oli belongs to the Jaffna-based press group Uthayan, which has also been the target of attacks
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