Peace for the World

Peace for the World
First democratic leader of Justice the Godfather of the Sri Lankan Tamil Struggle: Honourable Samuel James Veluppillai Chelvanayakam

Monday, February 13, 2017

Journalist killed in ‘No Fire Zone’ remembered in Jaffna

Home13 Feb  2017
A memorial event was held in Jaffna this weekend, to mark the 8th anniversary since the killing of Tamil journalist Puniyamoorthy Sathiyamoorthy.
Mr Sathiyamoorthy was killed by a Sri Lankan artillery barrage inside the ‘No Fire Zone’ in February 2009, alongside thousands of other civilians during the final stages of the armed conflict. A journalist of the Vanni based Media House, he wrote the military column for the 'Eezhanaatham' daily and was reporting from inside the ‘No Fire Zone’ when Sri Lankan artillery shells landed in the area.
“Several Tamil media reports said Sathiyamoorthy did not die immediately,” said the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). “They cited relatives who said a lack of proper medical attention contributed to his death.”
The killing was also condemned by the International Association of Tamil Journalists with the organisation’s President Anandhi Suriyaprakasam saying it “tragically underscores the extreme dangers for all journalists in Sri Lanka who try to report from the war zones or to offer a critical view of the conduct of the war”.
 Also see an obituary from TamilNet here.

Murdered Tamil journalist remembered in Jaffna


Home14 Feb  2016
Tamil journalist Puniyamoorthy Sathiyamoorthy, who was killed by a Sri Lankan artillery barrage inside the ‘No Fire Zone’ in February 2009, was remembered in Jaffna this week.
A ceremony held at Jaffna Hindu College saw the Editor-in-Chief of the Jaffna daily ‘Valampuri’ N. Vijayasuntharam speak alongside the director of Jaffna Hospital Dr Sathiyamoorthy.
Puniyamoorthy Sathiyamoorthy, a journalist of Vanni based Media House wrote the military column for the 'Eezhanaatham' daily. He was reporting from inside the ‘No Fire Zone’ when Sri Lankan artillery shells landed in the area.
“Several Tamil media reports said Sathiyamoorthy did not die immediately,” said the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). “They cited relatives who said a lack of proper medical attention contributed to his death.”
The CPJ also said “Colleagues outside of the conflict area, not all of them Tamils, said Sathiyamoorthy’s reports and commentaries were measured, and that he strove to maintain journalistic standards and an accurate representation of the wartime situations in which he found himself”.
“His work had global impact, reaching large numbers of Tamils living overseas,” it added.
Also see an obituary by TamilNet here.