Reopening Chemmani

IN 1998, former Sri Lankan army lance corporal Somaratne Rajapakse, while on trial for the rape and murder of a Tamil schoolgirl, Krishanthi Kumaraswamy, revealed the existence of mass graves in Chemmani. He alleged that over 300 people who had disappeared during the military’s occupation of Jaffna in 1995 were buried there. These individuals were mostly Tamil civilians and suspected LTTE sympathisers who vanished after being taken into custody by the army.

- 

Initial investigations led to the exhumation of 15 skeletons from the site in 1999. Forensic experts, including international observers, confirmed that the bodies showed signs of violent death. Yet, despite this early promise of accountability, momentum quickly faltered. Successive Governments failed to take serious legal action. The site has never been fully excavated, and no one has been held accountable for the deaths.

Early this year a group of construction workers found human remains in the vicinity of Chemmani, once again opening a deep wound that was never healed. At least 19 human remains have been found since the Jaffna magistrate ordered exhumation at the site.