12 STF officers arrested over the killing of 5 youth in Eastern Sri Lanka remanded further
Wed, Aug 14, 2013, 01:02 am SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Aug 13, Trincomalee: A Sri Lankan court today further remanded the 12 Special Task Force (STF) personnel arrested for the high profile killing of five Tamil students in Trincomalee of eastern Sri Lanka in 2006.
Trincomalee Magistrate, A.L. Ashra remanded the 12 STF officers until 26 August when the suspects including an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) attached to the Trincaomalee Police were produced in Trincomalee Magistrate court today.
The counsel for one of the suspects appealed to the court to allow his client bail to attend a family event and the Magistrate advised the suspect to obtain necessary advice from the Commissioner of Prisons as the state did not object to the appeal.
The killing of the 5 Tamil students took place on January 02, 2006 when they were playing in the beach. The 5 students were detained briefly and then shot to death.
The authorities claimed the students were LTTE terrorists and they were ready to lob a grenade. However, further investigations have revealed that the students were shot in the execution style.
The murders and subsequent efforts to cover up the involvement of security forces have drawn a huge outcry from international Human Rights groups as well as the local groups and the families of the victims.
Dr. Kasipillai Manoharan, the father of one of the students killed, appealed to international rights groups including the UN Human Rights Commission to investigate the crime and to provide justice to his son and other victims.

Human Rights Watch recently criticized Sri Lanka's lack of progress in meeting out justice in serious human right violations such as the killing of the five students and called for concerted international action.