News and events

Mannar mass grave- No end to the excavation process

2018-07-30

The excavation process taking place in Mannar is continuing on its 46th day as of July 30, 2018. The excavation process is taking place in the ‘Lanka Sathosa’ compound as well as in the already excavated earth which is closer to the entrance to Mannar town.

There have been 57 human skeletal remains have been identified till date, out of which 37 remains have been removed from the excavation site. Within the identified human skeletal remains there were remains of children too.

Attorney at law Ranitha Gnanarajah, V.S. Niranchan and K.S. Ratnavale, Senior Counsel and Director of CHRD as well as field officers of CHRD visited the excavation to express solidarity.

Excavation is being carried out by various groups which comprises a team of judicial medical officers which is led by consultant Judicial Medical Officer A.S. Rajapaksha as well as a team of forensic archeologists led by Professor Raj Somadeva of Kelaniya University.

On July 25, 2018 which is the 41st day of excavation process OMP commissioners Mirak Rahim and S.Venthan visited the excavation site and had a meeting with the officials on site regarding the excavation.

The Government of Sri Lanka has decided to send the skeletal remains to Florida for radiocarbon dating to determine the age of the remains. Many raise doubts regarding this decision due to past experiences of the remains of mass grave where the cases have come to a standstill and no results obtained.