Evidence of Sri Lankan 'war crimes' emerge

Channel 4 News showed video footage claiming to show Sri Lankan forces executing Tamils earlier this year.

Just three months after the Sri Lankan government declared the country liberated from the Tamil Tigers, video footage has emerged apparently showing government troops summarily executing Tamils, Jonathan Miller reports for Channel 4..

Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, which obtained the material, said it was filmed in January - when the international media were prevented by the Sri Lankan government from covering the conflict zone.

The Sri Lankan High Commission denied that the Sri Lankan armed forces carried out atrocities against Sri Lankan Tamil community. The High Commission said that they were only engaged in a military offensive against the LTTE.

The Sri Lankan government launched a large scale military offensive in January capturing the Tamil Tiger held town of Kilinochchi. The army then steadily pushed the rebels into an small area of the north-east.

Channel 4 warns that there are extremely disturbing scenes in the report from foreign affairs correspondent Jonathan Miller.

The Sri Lanka High Commission responding to the video said: "The High Commission has noted that in many instances in the past, various media institutions used doctored videos, photographs and documents to defame the Sri Lankan government and armed forces. Therefore, we request you to verify the authenticity of the video footage before the telecast".

Ruthless Genocidal Sri Lankan Army blocks gateway to Vanni civilians for 5th day

[Wednesday, 07 January 2009, 16:22 GMT]
A woman, wounded in Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombardment on 01 January succumbed to her wounds Monday night and other patients in need of urgent medical transport from Puthukkudiyiruppu to Vavuniyaa with ICRC escort remain blocked for days despite repeated attempts to access the road, which remained under Sri Lanka Army (SLA) artillery fire, as reported earlier. In the meantime, officials at the Government Agent's office in Vavuniyaa told media that the SLA has turned away humanitarian convoys despite their repeated attempts. Civilians in Vanni are refused essential supplies and refused critical medical transport, in violation to Geneva Conventions.

The officials in Vavuniyaa, responsible for facilitating humanitarian supplies to civilians in Vanni, complained that the SLA had turned away their convoys despite their repeated attempts, at least five times, since Thursday.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson with the ICRC told journalists in Colombo that they were unable to provide escort to the humanitarian convoys due to the security situation. The ICRC spokesperson also admitted that the movement of wounded civilians remained blocked as the ambulances heading for Vavuniyaa from the conflict zone were halted due to the closure of the roads.