Killed But Not Forgotten

Court orders full probe on Matale mass grave

D. G. Podinona, wife of dissapeared Benet Gamage, during the 1988-1989 period in an emotional mood at Matale court premises, when the Mass Grave case was taken up for hearing on Wednesday
Picture by Saman Kariyawasam

 Sunday, May 12, 2013

The Matale mass grave issue was back in the limelight last week with families of several persons who had gone missing in the Matale area during the 1988-1989 period requesting courts to carry out investigations to determine whether remains of their loved ones are among the skeletal remains unearthed from the mass grave.

The Matale magistrate and additional district judge Chaturika de Silva last week ordered a full probe into the Matale mass grave – which is by far the largest to be unearthed in the country – after accepting the 13 affidavits that were handed to court by 11 relatives of persons who had disappeared in the Matale area during the period of the mass grave.

Attorney at Law and JVP Central Committee member Sunil Watagala who also appeared before the Matale Magistrate said the magistrate had also permitted the JVP to become an intervening party in the case.

“The judge told the court that after considering Clause 138 of the Criminal Procedure Code and Article 41 (1) of the Judicature Act, she had decided to include the 13 affidavits handed over by the relatives of the missing persons and to call for a full probe,” he explained.
When the affidavits were first handed over to court on the 8th, Attorney at Law, Upul Kumarapperuma had a heated exchange of words with the CID in open court.

Watagala said that Kumarapperuma was angered by the statement made by the CID that the relatives and any others who wanted to complain about their loved ones who had gone missing during the 1988-1989 period should visit the fourth floor of the CID office in Colombo to lodge their complains.

Kumarapperuma had criticized the CID for its attitude towards the aggrieved parties and the lack of interest in conducting a proper probe into the Matale mass grave.

“Kumarapperuma asked whether the CID had even taken steps to publish a notice in the media requesting people who had lost their loved ones during the 1988-1989 period to come forward with their complaints,” Watagala said, adding that the CID was unable to respond.

The Magistrate had then asked the CID to set up a desk at the Matale Police for persons in the area to come forward and make their statements about the persons who had gone missing in the Matale area during the period of the mass grave.

However, when the case was taken up on the 10th, the Magistrate had officially ordered the CID to set up a desk at 10.30 a.m. on the 14th of this month to enable people in the Matale area to give their statements about their loved ones and others who had gone missing during 1988 and 1989.

“The CID agreed to come to Matale. The judge asked for a full report on the probe at the next hearing on May 31st,” Watagala said.
He noted that the JVP was planning on presenting 50 more affidavits from family members of missing persons when the case is taken up again on the 31st.

The Magistrate has also requested for a report on the tests being carried out on the skeletal remains by experts in the Peradeniya University.

Relatives of persons who had gone missing during the JVP insurgency in the 1980s are now starting to come out after holding their silence for over 20 years.

The relatives who appeared in the courthouse on the 8th and 10th with photographs of their loved ones, who had gone missing during the 1988-1989 period, requested the court to provide justice to their loved ones. They requested that DNA tests be carried out on the 154 skeletal remains that were unearthed from the Matale mass grave to determine whether their loved ones were among the dead.
Fathers and mothers held photographs of their children who had gone missing while some held on to photographs of their brothers and sisters they had lost decades ago.

The last memory some of them had of their loved ones were of them being captured and taken away by the military.
A few had seen their loved ones several times in military custody before they had gone missing while some others had never seen their kith and kin again.

Eyewitnesses to the suppression that took place in the Matale area during the 1988-89 period say that youth captured by the military were detained at Vijaya College in Matale and tortured at the rest house in Matale before some were killed. The grave was accidentally discovered when the ground at the Matale Hospital premises was dug for construction purposes last November.

It was initially speculated that the skeletal remains were of persons killed during a smallpox epidemic in the 1940s. However, the court was informed following tests carried out by experts that the skeletal remains that were unearthed from the mass grave belonged to the period between 1986 and 1990.
Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) of the Matale Hospital Dr Ajith Jayasena who carried out the initial investigations noted that tests are continuing on the skeletal remains. He has explained that excessive tests would have to be carried out to determine the sex of the persons buried and other details that could help identify the bodies.

However, Dr Jayasena has also noted that family members or relatives of the persons who had gone missing during the respective time period need to lodge complaints with the police.

“When they come forward, we can carry out DNA tests, which are the last tests to be conducted on the skeletal remains,” the JMO observed, adding that the public needs to be made aware of the need to come forward with information about their loved ones who had gone missing.

Following last week’s court verdict, the CID has now been forced to buckle up and carry out their task of conducting a full probe into the Matale mass grave.

JVP parliamentarian Anura Dissanayake said that the entire issue over the Matale mass grave has clearly indicated the irresponsibility of the government.

“There are 154 skeletons that were unearthed from the Matale mass grave. It is up to the government to carry out the necessary investigations, tests and find who was responsible for such a crime,” he noted, adding that the govenrment does not seem ready to do their part.

He explained that the JVP had intervened due to this reason and had visited the families of persons who had disappeared in the Matale area during the 1988-1989 period.

“We got the families to hand over affidavits requesting the authorities to carry out tests to determine whether the skeletal remains are of their loved ones,” Dissanayake said.

Dissanayake hailed the verdict of the Matale Magistrate to accept the affidavits and allow the JVP to intervene in the case.
“It is a good verdict that would undoubtedly create a good precedence in the future. We hope that justice would prevail,” he said. Nevertheless, the united call by everyone concerned is for the authorities to find the culprits who were responsible for the crime and to bring them to book. The mass grave issue has given credence to the statement that the dead sometimes come to haunt the living.