Further excavation of Vanni mass grave gets greenlight with a budget cut

The government has approved the budget submitted to resume the excavation activities of the Vanni mass grave, after deducting Rs. 4 million from the requested amount. The mass grave was found 11 months ago in Mullaitivu district, the most war-affected region.

This was revealed when the Mullaitivu District Secretariat informed the court that the Justice Ministry will be providing financial resources to continue the excavation activities of the Kokkuthoduvai mass grave.

Attorney Shanthipragasam Niranjan told regional journalists that the Mullaitivu Magistrate Dharmalingam Pradeepan on 16 May decided to hold the next hearing with regard to the resumption of the excavation activities in one and a half months at the mass grave site. Excavationwork had been halted for almost five months.

“The accountant of the Mullaitivu District Secretariat said that financial resources would be provided. Upon the confirmation of the same by the Office of Missing Persons (OMP), the next hearing over the continuation of excavations was set for 4 July.”

The resumption of the excavation activities of the Kokkuthoduvai mass grave, in which 40 complete human skeletons have been found, was postponed indefinitely due to the delay on the part of the Justice Ministry to approve financial resources requested by a group of experts.

It had been estimated last April that the remaining excavation activities would require around Rs. 13.7 million. Mullaitivu District Secretariat accountant Mylvanagam Selvaratnam had told regional journalists that the amount was reduced to Rs. 9.7 million following a request made by the Justice Ministry to review the request, and that the revised budget has been approved in writing.

As was revealed by A underground scan conducted after the excavation activities came to a halt last November, found that the mass grave spreads under the Mullaitivu-Kokkilai road.

Attorney Niranjan said that the court directed Kokkilai police and the Road Development Authority (RDA) to extend their assistance for future excavation activities.

“At the same time, the Kokkilai police and the RDA were informed to construct alternative roads and assist the excavation activities.”

Regional correspondents said that representatives of the OMP that promised to facilitate financial resources, were also present in court.

It is not clear whether financial resources would be provided for further forensic investigation of the skeletons unearthed from the Kokkuthoduvai mass grave.

Through its latest report on enforced disappearances released last week, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) urged the Sri Lankan government to extends its assistance to mass grave exhumations.

“Ensure that mass graves are properly identified, protected, preserved and investigated, and that international standards are met, including through seeking and using available international technical assistance, in relation to the documentation, handling and analysis of exhumed human remains, to allow both for the identification of the remains and to contribute to relevant investigations,” said OHCHR.

In March, forensic archaeologist Prof. Raj Somadeva, who leads the Kokkuthoduvai mass grave-related excavations, had told the court that the skeletal remains found in the mass grave belonged to Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) members who had been unceremoniously buried in the mid-1990s.

“I can state without the slightest doubt that the victims died by shooting before being buried en mass" he had told Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS).

The 35-page interim report submitted to the Mullaitivu court by Prof. Somadeva concludes that the bodies found in the Kokkuthoduvai mass grave had been buried in the 1994-1996 period, when Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga ruled the country.

JDS had revealed that during the period mentioned in the report, the area where the mass grave was found came under the control of Sri Lanka Army’s Sixth ‘Welioya’ Battalion, which at that time operated under the late Brigadier Janaka Perera.

During the said period, the Kokkuthoduvai army camp, located adjacent to the land where the mass grave was found, had been under the Fourth Gemunu Watch Regiment. “The 4th Battalion of the Gemunu Watch was stationed at the Kokkuthoduvai camp under the command of Lt.Col. Rohitha Wickrematilaka, who functioned as the battalion commander from February 1995 to November 1996,” said a JDS media report.

During a period of 21 days between September and November, 2023, 40 skeletons belonging to both men and women have been unearthed during the excavation. These activities were carried out in two phases, with the participation of Mullaitivu Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) Kanagasabapathi Vasudeva. As per the key conclusions reached following the examination of the skeletons, the bodies belonged to LTTE militants who had been buried clandestinely.

In June, 2023, human remains and pieces of clothes were accidentally found when National Water Supply and Drainage Board workers had been digging trenches to place water pipes. They had been found 200 metres from the Kokkuthoduvai Maha Vidyalaya towards Kokkilai.