News
Matale mass graves report to be exhumed for President Sirisena
Members of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry appointed to probe the Matale mass graves is awaiting an appointment with President Maithripala Sirisena to submit its report.
The three-member Commission of Inquiry appointed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa in June 2013 comprised retired Supreme Court Judge S.I. Imam (Chairman), former Parliament Secretary General Dhammika Kithulgoda and retired High Court Judge Bandula Atapattu.
The Sunday Times learns that the Commission completed its final report in December last year and sought an appointment with the former President, but the matter was delayed due to the election.
The report will now be submitted to President Sirisena once an appointment is granted for this purpose.
About 156 witnesses gave evidence before the Commission and report obtained from Beta Analytics of Miami, Florida in the USA, for radiocarbon dating of the skeletal remains.
Several human skeletons were initially unearthed on Nov.26, 2012, during excavations in close proximity to the Matale General Hospital kitchen. Up to Feb.12, 2013, about 155 human skeletons had been unearthed.
Speculation has been rife since the discovery of the mass grave, with claims that the skeletons were of victims of a small pox epidemic that affected the country in the mid-1940s, while the more contentious and controversial claim is that they were victims of government crackdown on the JVP’s1988-1990 uprising.
The Commission was given a mandate that, in the absence of definitive facts as to whose skeletons they are, the inquiry should attempt to ascertain how these persons came by their deaths, during which period they were buried, identify those responsible and during which period the events occurred, the manner in which the bodies were buried and identify the victims.
The Commission was also mandated to probe “whether such human bodies came to be buried as a result of an illegal act or acts, and if so, whether any person or persons are responsible.” It was also mandated to inquire into and report back adequate cogent factors or evidence that would lead to identification of the person or persons responsible, in case the deaths were caused by an illegal act, as well as recommend legal action to be instituted against those found to be responsible.