Den franske nødhjælpsorganisation Action Against Hunger (ACF) anklager Sri Lankas militær for at have likvideret 17 af dens medarbejdere under den blodige borgerkrig mellem de tamilske Tigre og det singhalesiske flertal på øen ved Indiens fod.
The French charity demanded an international inquiry and said it had been awaiting the outcome of Sri Lanka’s own inquiries but they had turned into a “farce”, writes BBC online Tuesday.
ACF said its unarmed workers had been lined up, forced to kneel and each shot in the head at their office in the town of Muttur.
A Sri Lankan military spokesman rejected ACF’s allegations, suggesting the charity had withheld evidence.
The killings happened as security forces took control of Muttur, while fighting Tamil Tiger rebels.
ACF decided to publicly denounce the perpetrators because “relevant domestic mechanisms have been exhausted, witnesses have been silenced and the internal Sri Lankan investigation has become a farce”.
According to ACF’s report, all of the alleged victims were Tamils. They are listed by name, along with their photographs.
Soldiers and police then attempted to block any investigation into the deaths, according to the charity’s report.
The charity said it was not giving the names of the killers as the report was not meant to replace a judicial inquiry.
The country’s civil war ended after 26 years in 2009 with a government victory. Some 70.000 people had been killed by the time the conflict entered its furious final months, when the UN believes that tens of thousands may have died.
