Sri Lanka: Mass graves everywhere, but where

are the killers? — Final Part

Many investigations into mass killings had commenced in the past, but almost all
of them have stalled. Killings and disappearances in the name of national security
and patriotism have become the norm and part of the non-disclosed statistics.
The common thread one could find among all this is the belief of the State that if
it can deflect and ignore the obvious, the secrets of criminality will be buried and
everything will be forgotten with time.

by Lionel Bopage- Mar 12, 2018

Mar 12, 2018
Read Previous parts of this series: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part
Four

Matale mass grave – 2012

( March 12, 2018, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) In the 1988-89 period, the JVP
led an armed uprising mainly in the south of Sri Lanka, against the Indian Peace
Keeping Forces and the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord. This uprising was put down with
tens of thousands of Sinhala youth killed. In Matale, Central Sri Lanka, more than
450 people had disappeared. In November 2012, workers installing a biogas plant
at a construction site in the Matale General Hospital found human remains that
had been buried. In November 2012, the Matale Magistrate’s Court ordered the
remains to be exhumed. By February 2013, 155 human skeletons were unearthed.
This is the largest mass grave discovered in the South so far.[1] The police claimed
that these skeletons were of victims of a smallpox epidemic in the 1950s.[2] Yet,
the site had all the hall marks of a mass grave, with all its skeletons stacked on top
of each other and laid out in rows. The JVP called for a criminal investigation and
a full disclosure of its results.[3]

An all-out campaign was launched to undermine the investigations with many

rumours such as – the remains found were skeletons of landslide victims in the
forties, the malaria victims of the fifties, or a mass burial made during colonial
rule in the mid-19th century – were being floated around. But based on the
placement of the skeletons, the investigations concluded that it was not a regular
burial site, but a mass grave. A Sri Lankan forensic archaeologist examined the site
and identified physical artefacts that reliably dated the site as “not earlier than
the year 1986 and not later than the year 1990”.[4]

The forensic expert concluded that the physical deformations found in bodies
were results of neither a natural disaster nor an epidemic. The preliminary
forensic reports indicated those found have been tortured and killed.[5] Both
professionals concluded that the remains found belonged to the period 1986-
1990.[6] Their reports indicated the use of fire arms and blunt instruments, iron
nails being driven into skulls and signs of decapitation.[7] The skulls found also did
not have the rest of their skeletons. Despite the specified timeframe with physical
artifacts and other evidence, the report of experts recommended testing using
the Radiocarbon Bomb-pulse Method (RBM) with Beta Analytic, Inc. in the United
States. As such, the court ordered the investigators to seek the assistance of
overseas expertise with radiocarbon dating to have a more accurate time frame.

According to witnesses, the Gajaba Regiment of the Sri Lanka Army had
maintained a torture center near the hospital, where the mass grave was
found.[8] Lawyers represented some families who may have had relatives
murdered. The Bar Association of Sri Lanka also sought to represent all families of
the disappeared.[9] The Court directed the CID to place tri-lingual newspaper
advertisements asking families of the disappeared in the latter part of the eighties
to come forward. With Interpol assistance, DNA tests were to be carried out on
the skeletal remains found.[10] However, the CID ignored the court order for over
six weeks without sending the skeleton samples for testing overseas.[11] The CID
also did not carry out the order to publish public notices in media to encourage
more families of the disappeared and witnesses to come forward.[12]

By 2013, this investigation had become prominent and had become a serious
issue for the regime of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The commanding
officer of the Gajaba Regiment in Matale during the late eighties had been
Gotabhaya Rajapaksa[13], a younger brother of the former President,[14] and the
Defense Secretary of his regime. Witnesses gave evidence that they saw soldiers
detaining children in a camp near the Matale hospital.[15] Yet, the very same
judicial procedure disallowed or disregarded requests for using DNA testing
technology for the personal identification of victims, made by the relations of
those disappeared. If DNA of victims in graves matched with those of family
members alive, that would have established their personal identification and
ruled in or out the specified time period of the grave.

The Judicial Medical Officer of Matale District Hospital, who was in charge of the
scientific examination of the skeletons found in the Matale mass grave was
transferred to another hospital with immediate effect.[16] Despite the many
objections by the Bar Association and other lawyers citing a magisterial inquiry
was already ongoing, the former President appointed a three-member
Presidential Commission of Inquiry.[17] The judge of the court was promptly
transferred and replaced by another judge. The new judge refused to accept
additional affidavits and deferred those affidavits to the Presidential Commission
of Inquiry. The Commission collected evidence from 156 witnesses[18] and
obtained a forensics report from a laboratory in China[19] and from Beta Analytic.

Without expert supervision, the samples for DNA testing were sent to Beta
Analytic. There was no document trail to ascertain that the authenticity of the
test sample did come from the Matale mass grave, and there was no evidence to
show that the samples were gathered following Beta Analytic’s specific guidelines.
This was highly significant as tissues of different bone samples decompose at
different rates, thus affecting the test results. Similar concerns were expressed on
the skeletons sent to Beijing for international forensic analysis.

The lawyers that appeared for the families of the disappeared had already
objected to this process. They were sceptical of the independence of such
inquiries, on the basis that the facilities for such inquiries in China were not
reliable and the possibility of interference into such investigations existed. Yet,
the magistrate allowed the remains to be sent to the facility in China. In an
apparent move to stall the magisterial inquiry, the judge who was conducting it
was also transferred.[20] The new Magistrate postponed hearing this case on two
occasions.[21] Despite the courts requiring the Interpol to assist, a report towards
November 2014 by Beta Analytic, Inc[22] stated that these skeletal remains
belonged to the pre-1950 period.[23] In interpreting the Beta Analytic test results,
another specialist of the Smithsonian Institute reserved his confirmation of
remains being from the pre-1950 period.[24] This specialist stated that he did not
oversee the sampling process and had no way of assessing the integrity of the
samples sent for testing.

As the specialists had pointed out at the Presidential Commission, the samples
may have been contaminated, as they had seen the excavated from a pit
submerged in rainwater. The archaeologist disputed the findings implying that the
wrong skeletal samples had been sent for testing.[25] International experts
experienced with the Balkans and Latin American mass graves have agreed with
the archaeologist for dating the grave to the late 1980s. They also believed that
the exhumed remains need further analysis. However, the Presidential
Commission discounted this expert testimony. In 2015, Matale Magistrate Court
transferred the case to the AG’s Department for a decision whether to close the
case.

The Presidential Commission finally rejected the allegations of a mass grave. As

the propaganda war intensified for the January 2015 elections, President Mahinda
Rajapaksa’s government shelved the Commission’s report and phased out all
mention of it from the public domain. When the government changed in 2015,
the Commission reopened its report, however, upholding the 1950s hypothesis
and rejecting the allegations that the mass grave was a scene of crime. The report
submitted to President Maithripala Sirisena has not yet been made public. There
has been no progress in the case since then.

It is worthwhile to note that in 1994, the Commission of Inquiry into the

involuntary removal or disappearance of persons in the Central, North western
and Uva provinces former President Chandrika Kumaratunga appointed in
1994,[26] recorded complaints of more than 20,000 disappearances. It received
over 15,000 submissions of which 6,443 complaints had been inquired into. In
Matale alone, the complainants identified and named several officers who were
responsible for the abductions and subsequent disappearances of several
hundreds of people.

An army camp was identified to have coordinated such enforced disappearances.

The coordinating officer who had been in charge of the camp at the time has also
been publicly identified. The said coordinating officer and several other identified
persons were holding high posts in the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime. The final
report identified and named the persons who were responsible for the
disappearances, and included names “found to be credibly implicated in
involuntary removals/disappearances in these provinces.”[27] Separately, a
confidential list was also sent to the then President. That report lies somewhere
in a drawer, but no legal action has been taken against those who have been
named.

In August 2014, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights was to visit
Colombo as the first of a series of visits. A UNHRC session was due in September
2014, and a Commonwealth Heads Meeting was to follow in November. Canada
had already boycotted this due to the lack of concern of the Sri Lanka regime for
human rights. Obviously, the Rajapaksa regime’s human rights track record was
under scrutiny. The Asian Legal Resource Centre had written to the UN Working
Group on Enforced Disappearances to study the situation through their experts,
conduct inquiries relating to the remains found in Matale, and assist the
government to ensure that these inquiries meet international standards.[28]

In addition, there were appeals for Ms Navanethem Pillay, the UN High

Commissioner for Human Rights to discuss cases like Matale mass graves when
she met with the leaders of the previous regime. The State-run media
immediately launched an unprecedented vilification campaign[29] against her
focusing on her Tamil ethnicity, despite her South African background with South
Indian origins.[30] To date, justice has not been meted out for those who had
committed these gruesome atrocities and heinous murders committed in Matale.

Mannar mass grave – 2013

In December 2013, workers of the National Water Supply and Drainage Board
digging trenches in Manthei, Thiruketheeswaram, Mannar discovered three
human skeletons.[31] After the military defeat of the LTTE in May 2009, this was
the first mass grave found and forensically examined. The Mannar Police
launched an investigation alongside a magisterial inquiry led by the Magistrate of
Mannar. The Judicial Medical Officer, who accompanied the Magistrate to the
grave site was the same JMO involved in the Chemmani investigation in
1999.[32] The Magistrate ordered the investigation to proceed in two phases,
firstly with the excavation, recovery of remains, preservation, transportation and
safe storage for further examination and secondly with forensic anthropological
and pathological examination of the remains and further investigation by the
court.[33]

Under the instructions of the Magistrate to investigate and report on this mass
grave, the excavation commenced in December 2013 and carried out in stages till
March 2014. As more remains unearthed in the mass grave, the Tamil National
Alliance called for an international probe into this mass grave. The top layer of the
skeletons had already been damaged due to the construction work and some had
been fragmented by earth-moving machinery.[34] In January 2014, The JMO
stated that no signs of clothing or human-made artifacts had been found in the
grave. He had packed more than 80 boxes of skeletonized remains for
preservation, labeled and sealed them, and transported them under court order
to the medico-legal morgue of the Teaching Hospital in Anuradhapura for storage
and further examination.

According to the state sources, this site had been used for mass burial of civilians
and soldiers killed by the LTTE during the war. Mannar and most of the northern
part of Sri Lanka were under the LTTE control for about 30 years, until they were
militarily defeated in May 2009. Yet, according to the LTTE sources, the skeletons
found were of those disappeared under the occupation of the army. This area had
been a High Security Zone since early nineties. Further excavations later led to
unearthing of at least 81 more remains. In April 2014, the Director General of the
Department of Archaeology stated that this was a normal cemetery,[35] used
since 1930s and not a mass grave. With that the excavations came to an end.

Nevertheless, the absence of clothes or human-made artefacts at the burial site

suggested that “the bodies were not disposed of as a part of conventional
funerals”.[36] Apparently, some of the skeletal remains had bullet holes, while
some others were found to have their hands bound behind. Gunshot injuries
were allegedly discovered on the bodies. The TNA demanded an independent
international investigation pointing to the risk of evidence being tampered with or
destroyed completely.[37] Families of the disappeared continued to demand
further excavation of the mass grave. The courts approved the request for further
excavation. The courts also ordered an affidavit from the Chairperson of the
Mannar Pradeshiya Sabha, who stated that there were no records of a cemetery
in the area.[38]

The Magistrate had ordered 88 skeletons found to be sent abroad for DNA tests.
Permission had been granted to send the skeletons to either Yugoslavia,
Argentina or Guatemala for this. However, the Judicial Medical Officer, who
conducted the initial examinations objected saying this was not necessary.
According to him, the age, time, gender and the cause of death can be
determined at a local laboratory.[39] The CID reported to the courts that there
had been a cemetery at the particular location in the past. However, several
volunteer organizations objected claiming that a large number of people had
disappeared in the area during the war, and the CID report was false.[40]
In 2015, yet another suspected mass grave was found not far away from the
original mass grave in Thiruketheeswaram. The Mannar Magistrate ordered its
excavation. With regime change in 2015, the CID was ordered to conduct fresh
investigations into both graves. The excavation was to commence in October
2015 with Forensic Medicine, Archaeology, and Survey Departments participating.
This did not occur. In February 2016, excavation started again, but could not
complete it as the well began to submerge. The court ordered to divert water
from the well and recommence excavation in April 2016. As the Judicial Medical
Officer was not available (yet again), the court ordered postponing the
excavation. In August 2016, the excavation continued and two more skeletal
remains were found. However, by then only a small part of the 37 feet deep well
had been dug.

The investigation into the Mannar mass grave raised several concerns:

Prior to a forensic archaeologist/ anthropologist dating the grave, a geologist and

atomics expert had submitted reports, which was apparently unusual; despite the
Magistrate’s orders, the Department of Archaeology had not been asked to date
the grave.[41] So, the Mannar mass grave has not been dated, but it appears
related to the period of the three-decade long armed conflict;

Despite the statement of Director General of Department of Archaeology that the

gravesite is an “ancient cemetery” that existed between 1940 and 1953[42] and
that the bodies had been “buried systematically”, neither the 1954, 1955, and
1961 official survey plans of the village indicate the existence of any
cemetery[43] nor do longtime residents of the area recall such a cemetery. The
Chairperson of Mannar Pradeshiya Sabha also submitted a letter to the
Magistrate Court, confirming that there were no local government records of a
cemetery in that area, which he had later confirmed when CID questioned him on
this matter. A Magistrate had noted in his order that according to Hindu custom, a
cemetery or burial ground would not have been built so close to the
Thiruketheeswaram temple and that due to the age of the temple and the
condition of the bones, the cemetery cannot be considered to predate the
temple;[44]

The CID’s apparent disinterest, wanton delays and stalling attempts in locating
and excavating an adjacent sealed well, even when in October 2014, the
Magistrate ordered it to be excavated. In August 2015, the judge refused to
accept the CID’s request to extend time, and the Survey Department located the
sealed well. However, the excavation that was due to commence in February
2016, has not occurred yet;

The Director General of Department of Archaeology has proposed developing a

standard operating procedure to investigate mass graves throughout Sri Lanka.
However, a lack of transparency on the proposed procedures and refusal to learn
from the past mistakes would not see this proposal in a favourable light; and

96 skeletal remains that were discovered had been kept at Anuradhapura

Teaching Hospital awaiting DNA testing.

Due to concerns of sample contamination, lawyers for Center for Human Rights
and Development (CHRD) asked the court to have an international team based in
Sri Lanka to work with local experts to oversee aspects of excavation, sample
collection, preparation, preservation, transmission, and testing. In October 2015,
the magistrate prohibited the removal of remains kept in Anuradhapura Teaching
Hospital without a court order. In December 2015, the CID agreed to send the
samples to the Argentine, Peruvian, or Guatemalan forensic anthropology teams.
However, the CID displayed their lack of specific knowledge in handling sample
remains to be collected and sent for testing. The CID and other state stakeholders
also do not welcome international assistance. After a long delay, the CID had
contacted the Guatemalan forensic anthropology team, but not others.[45]
Kaluwanchikudy mass grave – 2014

In 2014, a young Muslim from the Batticaloa District[46] complained to

Kaluwanchikudi Police Station that his father had been killed and buried in a mass
grave. He apparently petitioned the Kaluwanchikudy court to grant an order for
the exhumation of a suspected mass burial site containing remains of more than
100 Muslim people the LTTE had allegedly killed in Kaththankudi in August 1990
and later buried in Kaluwanchikudy. He testified before the Lessons Learnt and
Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) and the Presidential Commission on
Disappearances. Local Muslims testified before the Presidential Commission that
they could identify the location where the LTTE killed 167 Muslims in July 1990.
According to reports, this mass grave was seemingly implicating the LTTE, and the
State commenced investigating this site more expeditiously than the mass grave
sites in Mannar and Matale.[47]

In July 2014, the Police recorded statements of relatives reported missing during
that time[48], which were to be used to help identify the remains when the grave
is to be excavated when a court order is granted. However, the excavation was
postponed till August, and then again till November due to the difficulties in
getting down the forensic experts such as the Chief Judicial Medical Officer and
the Government Analyst from Colombo to the grave site.

The Police stated that human remains will not be identifiable and as such,
statements relatives had made for identifying the remains. Since then,
investigations and exhumations have stalled. This was apparently due to the fact
that the state came to the realization that the continuation of investigations on
this mass grave might implicate Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan (Colonel Karuna),
who had switched sides from the LTTE to join the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime in
2008.
Conclusion

Many investigations into mass killings had commenced in the past, but almost all
of them have stalled. Killings and disappearances in the name of national security
and patriotism have become the norm and part of the non-disclosed statistics.
The common thread one could find among all this is the belief of the State that if
it can deflect and ignore the obvious, the secrets of criminality will be buried and
everything will be forgotten with time.

From the above narrative of exhumations and investigations into mass graves, it
would appear that all parties to conflicts in Sri Lanka, the security forces, the
paramilitary forces that supported them and the militants who fought against the
state are culpable for many hundreds of disappearances over the years. Since the
time of the military defeat of the LTTE in 2009, mass killings have stopped. Yet,
this was also the case after the mid-1971 and 1987-89 uprisings in the South. In
the societies the State is said to have “liberated” politically, ethnically or
religiously, the practice of demonising the losing side continued and as a result
many hostile cinders appear to remain dormant. Such cinders could ferment
conflicts leading to future civil wars if their root causes are not dealt with.[49]

There are three important conclusions that could be made from the above
analysis. First, despite the significant international focus on Sri Lanka including
that of the United Nations Human Rights Council and its High Commissioner, all
mass grave investigations have remained stagnated. The relatives of the victims of
enforced disappearance are no closer to the truth and remain in the dark as to
what happened to their loved ones. They still have to rely on the government in
their long search for truth and justice!

Second, the unwillingness of the State to admit responsibility and be accountable

to the society for the past suffering, injustice and conflict, and move towards a
future based on recognition of human rights, justice, equity, inclusiveness and
democracy for all peoples. This is because the state and those opposed the state
are incapable of admitting guilt that underpin the mass killings and mass graves,
as enforced disappearances became a cornerstone of the military policy of the
State.

Third, the procedural blockages that had arisen due to the lack of both
independent professional expertise, and clear domestic legislation, regulations
and guidelines in dealing with excavations and investigations associated with
mass graves. There had been no scientific guidelines provided during the early
stages of exhumations and investigations. Untrained manual labour and tools
such as pickaxes and bulldozers were used for excavations. The methods
employed more often destroyed the human and other remains that needed to be
preserved for scientific investigation.

The incoherent investigations processes were left to the discretion of individual

magistrates following normal criminal procedures, allowing the CID and AG’s
Department to lead investigations. The experts they have retained do not appear
to have specific expertise on matters such as international law, forensic
anthropology, forensic archaeology, and forensic pathology. As the mass graves
are directly associated with enforced disappearances implicating the state and
the government, the wisdom of leaving the investigation in the hands of the State
is highly questionable.

Political interference in the investigations both at the legal and forensic level were
pretty evident. As discussed earlier – transfer of judges and medical officers,
appointing Presidential Commissions terminating judicial investigations, branding
mass graves as cemeteries even when the skeletal remains pointed to torture,
unnecessary but wanton delays, allowing human remains to be contaminated, not
adhering to court orders to place tri-lingual notices, lack of transparency and
documentary trails related to handling of samples and non-disclosure and even
lack of foreign forensic expert reports on sample remains sent overseas – are
direct pointers to such political interference.

The individuals and institutions who have placed obstacles in the path of exposing
the truth are mainly those who are implicated in such mass atrocities. It is for this
reason that we need to pursue a cohesive, centralised and credible independent
accountability mechanism at least with international judicial, forensic and other
relevant expertise participating in it. With some urgency, the State needs to
employ internationally accepted best practices to investigate all mass graves
found in Sri Lanka. The Office on Missing Persons should promptly take the
responsibility to identify appropriate mechanisms for tracing the missing persons
as mandated by the Act and ‘identify avenues of redress to which missing persons
and relatives of missing persons are entitled’.

The non-application of the international humanitarian law in relation to the mass

atrocities in Sri Lanka may indicate a deliberate attempt to suppress the exposure
of the truth, thus stifling justice to the victims and their relatives. The lack of
interest on the part of government and State to learn from past mistakes points
to the absence of political will and commitment to establishing the truth for the
sake of national unity and reconciliation. Establishing truth based on solid facts
can challenge the divisive nature of the historical violence and lead to better
understanding among communities, fostering fairness and equity.

Concluded

[1] Sri Lanka Brief 23 February 2013, Written Statement to UNHRC: Sri Lanka: The
need for the preservation and proper inquiries into the remains of about 200
bodies found in the mass grave at Matale, at
http://srilankabrief.org/2013/02/written-statement-to-unhrc-sri-lanka-the-need-
for-the-preservation-and-proper-inquiries-into-the-remains-of-about-200-bodies-
found-in-the-mass-grave-at-matale/

[2] Adaderana 18 November 2014, Matale mass grave: skeletons belong to early
1950s, at: http://www.adaderana.lk/news/matale-mass-grave-skeletons-belong-
to-early-1950s

[3] Sri Lanka Brief 10 April 2013, Matale mass grave: No ‘humbug’ commissions,
what is needed is a special court – JVP,
at:http://srilankabrief.org/2013/04/matale-mass-grave-no-humbug-commissions-
what-is-needed-is-a-special-court-jvp/, and
at: http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-
details&code_title=71981

[4] Human Skeletal Remains found at the District General Hospital Premises in
Matale: The Report on Forensic Archaeology (2013), at 47, and Sri Lanka Brief 28
March 2013, Sri Lanka mass grave from Marxist uprising (1988 -1990) era: expert,
at: http://srilankabrief.org/2013/03/sri-lanka-mass-grave-from-marxist-uprising-
1988-1990-era-expert/

[5] Sri Lanka Brief 31 March 2013, Matale Mass Grave: Gory details of torture;
nails inserted into the fingers, at: http://srilankabrief.org/2013/03/matale-mass-
grave-gory-details-of-torture-nails-inserted-into-the-fingers/ For example, signs of
torture on several skeletons included iron nails through the phalanges (fingers) of
one skeleton with one leg bone tied with a carefully knotted metal wire. A third
skeleton showed signs of “conscious” cutting of the skull with a “sharp tool.”
[6] BBC News 28 March 2013, Sri Lanka Matale mass grave ‘dates from late
1980s’, at: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-21964586

[7] Sri Lanka Mirror 27 May 2014, Iron nails driven into Matale skulls,
at: http://archive.srilankamirror.com/news/15150-iron-nails-driven-into-matale-
skulls

[8] Sri Lanka Brief 30 March 2013, Military torture chamber near Matale mass
grave, at: http://srilankabrief.org/2013/03/military-torture-chamber-near-
matale-mass-grave/

[9] Sri Lanka Brief 8 May 2013, Magistrates Court accepts 13 petitions for Matale
mass grave, at: http://srilankabrief.org/2013/05/magistrates-court-accepts-13-
petitions-for-matale-mass-grave/

[10] Sri Lanka Brief 22 June 2013, President appoint a Commission on Matale
grave, at: http://srilankabrief.org/2013/06/president-appoint-a-commission-on-
matale-grave/

[11] Sri Lanka Brief 22 July 2013, CID ignores Court order on Matale Mass Grave,
at: http://srilankabrief.org/2013/07/cid-ignores-court-order-on-matale-mass-
grave/

[12] Sri Lanka Brief 10 June 2013, Matale mass grave: CID ignores Court order,
at: http://srilankabrief.org/2013/06/matale-mass-grave-cid-ignores-court-order/

[13] Mahinda Rajapaksa as MP headed the Parliamentary human rights

committee. In May 1989, he had been promoted and posted to Matale as the
district coordinating officer until the JVP uprising was put down at the end of
1989. He left the country for USA in January 1990, after crushing the insurgency.
Incidentally, the very same Gotabhaya Rajapaksa held overall command
responsibility during the handling of the last stage of the civil war.

[14] In 1990, when he was apprehended with 500 photographs of missing persons
while on his way to Geneva for a UNHRC special session on human rights abuses
in Sri Lanka, he defiantly said, “Tears of innocent grieving mothers compel us to
tell their story of pain and sorrow to the world. We will do it today, tomorrow and
always. Remember that.” He proved himself to be not of that character by
committing much worse abuses when he served as President.

[15] Despite many being frightened to talk about disappearances under the
Mahinda Rajapaksa regime.

[16] Sri Lanka Brief 20 May 2013, JMO in charge of Matale mass grave also to be
transferred,
at: http://srilankabrief.org/2013/05/jmo-in-charge-of-matale-mass-grave-also-to-
be-transferred/

[17] The Commission comprised of retired Supreme Court Judge Justice S.I. Imam,
ex- Parliament Secretary General Dhammika Kithulgoda and retired High Court
Judge Bandula Atapattu, at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/article/presidential-
commfor-matale-mass-grave-issue-31248.html

[18] Sunday Times 15 February 2015, Matale mass graves report to be exhumed
for President Sirisena, at: http://www.sundaytimes.lk/150215/news/matale-
mass-graves-report-to-be-exhumed-for-president-sirisena-135948.html

[19] Sri Lanka Brief 8 October 2013, Matale Mass grave findings to China for
Carbon dating, at: http://srilankabrief.org/2013/10/matale-mass-grave-findings-
to-china-for-carbon-dating/

[20] Mr Chandrapala Kumarage, then Chair of the Human Rights Committee of the
Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) said that the government was trying to cover it
up. In an unprecedented move, he intervened to protect and restore human
rights as it was necessary to do so in the public interest.

[21] Sri Lanka Brief 9 September 2013, Matale Mass Grave: JVP disappointed over
delay,
at: http://srilankabrief.org/2013/09/matale-mass-grave-jvp-disappointed-over-
delay/

[22] Report on Radiocarbon Analysis of Samples, Matale Case No. B.1810/12, Sri
Lanka, Douglas H. Ubelaker, PhD Smithsonian Institution Washington, D.C. USA 30
October 2014, at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/76921/contradictory-reports-on-
matale-mass-grave-site

[23] Ada Derana 18 November 2014, Matale mass grave: skeletons belong to early
1950s, at: http://www.adaderana.lk/news/matale-mass-grave-skeletons-belong-
to-early-1950s

[24] Ratnawalli, D. 21 December 2014, Matale Mass Grave: Skeletons in Closets as

Well? at: http://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/matale-mass-grave-
skeletons-in-closets-as-well/

[25] Sri Lanka Brief 15 May 2015, Matale Commission Conclusions, an Insult to
Professional Experts, at: http://srilankabrief.org/2015/05/matale-commission-
conclusions-an-insult-to-professional-experts/

[26] Sri Lanka Brief 30 June 2013, Presidential Commission of Inquiry to begin
sittings within next fortnight, at: http://srilankabrief.org/2013/06/presidential-
commission-of-inquiry-to-begin-sittings-within-next-fortnight/

[27] Sunday Times 30 June 2013, Presidential Commission of Inquiry to begin

sittings within next fortnight,
at:http://www.sundaytimes.lk/130630/news/presidential-commission-of-inquiry-
to-begin-sittings-within-next-fortnight-50836.html

[28] Asian Legal Resource Centre 20 February 2013, SRI LANKA: The need for the
preservation and proper inquiries into the remains of about 200 bodies found in
the mass grave at Matale, at: http://alrc.asia/sri-lanka-the-need-for-the-
preservation-and-proper-inquiries-into-the-remains-of-about-200-bodies-found-
in-the-mass-grave-at-matale/

[29] Sri Lanka Brief 22 June 2013, President appoint a Commission on Matale
grave, at: http://srilankabrief.org/2013/06/president-appoint-a-commission-on-
matale-grave/

[30] Sri Lanka Brief, 15 August 2014, Sri Lanka accuses UN human rights chief Navi
Pillay of prejudice in war crimes probe, at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-
15/sri-lanka-accuses-un-human-rights-chief-of-prejudice/5672268

[31] YouTube 28 August 2015, Mannar Thiruketheeswaram human grave

identified 1 to 5 (in parts), at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7hjmDQYVNo

[32] Bala M 2015, Transitional Justice and the Right to Know: Investigating Sri
Lanka’s Mass Graves;
at:http://www.academia.edu/33043502/Transitional_Justice_and_the_Right_to_
Know_Investigating_Sri_Lankas_Mass_Graves.pdf

[33] Waidyaratne Dr D.L. 23 October 2014, Report on the Excavation of the

Suspected Mass Grave in Manthei, Mannar, Case No. B 768/2013

[34] Colombo Telegraph 19 January 2014, Mannar Mass Grave Reveals More
Skeletons, at: https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/mannar-mass-
grave-reveals-more-skeletons/

[35] Daily Mirror 7 April 2014, Mannar mass grave an ordinary cemetery: DG,
at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/article/mannar-mass-grave-an-ordinary-cemetery-
dg-45632.html

[36] Roar Reports 7 June 2017, Bodies Beneath: Accidentally Discovered Mass
Graves In Sri Lanka, at: https://roar.media/english/reports/history/bodies-
beneath-accidentally-discovered-mass-graves-in-sri-lanka/

[37] Sri Lanka Brief 9 August 2016, International Forensic Analysts Essential in
Mannar Investigation – Selvam Adaikkalanathan, at:
http://srilankachrd.org/assets/book-
a.pdf http://srilankabrief.org/2016/08/international-forensic-analysts-essential-
in-mannar-investigation-selvam-adaikkalanathan/
[38] Centre for Human Rights and Development 2015, Enforced Disappearance in
Sri Lanka: Lessons from CHRD’s Advocacy, 40,
at:http://srilankachrd.org/assets/book-a.pdf

[39] Daily News 14 December 2015, Mannar skeletal remains to be sent abroad
for DNA tests, at: https://www.dailynews.lk/?q=2015/12/14/security/mannar-
skeletal-remains-be-sent-abroad-dna-tests&qt-popular_articles=0

[40] Ibid.

[41] Nawaratne S W 18 June 2015, Test Report on Case No. B 768/2013,

Department of Geology, University of Peradeniya; cited in Bala M
2015, Transitional Justice and the Right to Know: Investigating Sri Lanka’s Mass
Graves;
at:http://www.academia.edu/33043502/Transitional_Justice_and_the_Right_to_
Know_Investigating_Sri_Lankas_Mass_Graves.pdf

[42] Perera C and Kathiragamathamby S 10 March 2014, Mass Grave? No,

Graveyard – Archaeologists, In Daily News,
at: http://www.dailynews.lk/local/mass-grave-no-graveyard-archaeologists

[43] Groundviews 12 March 2014, From mass grave to cemetery: Questioning the
claims in Mannar; at: http://groundviews.org/2014/03/12/from-mass-grave-to-
cemetery-questioning-the-claims-in-mannar/ (with survey plans enclosed). Plans
record the area as featuring “high jungle and a masonry well.”

[44] Rajah A Magistrate 7 August 2015 in his order.

[45] Bala M 2015, Transitional Justice and the Right to Know: Investigating Sri
Lanka’s Mass Graves;
at:http://www.academia.edu/33043502/Transitional_Justice_and_the_Right_to_
Know_Investigating_Sri_Lankas_Mass_Graves.pdf

[46] Daily FT 28 June 2014, Kattankudy mass grave investigations to start from 1
July, at: http://www.ft.lk/article/314580/Kattankudy-mass-grave-investigations-
to-start-from-1-July.

[47] Bala M 2015, Transitional Justice and the Right to Know: Investigating Sri
Lanka’s Mass Graves, 7, at:
http://www.academia.edu/33043502/Transitional_Justice_and_the_Right_to_Kn
ow_Investigating_Sri_Lankas_Mass_Graves.pdf

[48] The Sunday Leader 13 July 2014, Police Record Statements About Mass
Grave, at: http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2014/07/13/police-record-statements-
about-mass-grave/; and Pakistan Defence 20 August 2014, Excavations of Muslim
mass grave site in eastern Sri Lanka postponed again,
at:https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/excavations-of-muslim-mass-grave-site-in-
eastern-sri-lanka-postponed-again.329883/

[49] Adam H and Moodley K 2014, Imagined Liberation: Xenophobia, Citizenship

and Identity in South Africa, Sun Press, 14
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