Court orders excavations at a mass grave of Muslims in Batticaloa
A court order has gone for the commencement of excavations at a mass grave at Kurukkalmadam in Batticaloa, in which 168 Muslims murdered by the LTTE 35 years ago are buried.
Kalavanchikudy magistrate J.P.A. Ranjithkumar inspected the site near the beach on 11 September for a second time, following a directive to the relevant authorities to exhume the bodies.
A week earlier, justice minister Harshana Nanayakkara accompanied Office for Missing Persons officials and the police to the mass grave in an observation visit.
The Muslims had been returning home in July 1990 from Hajj pilgrimage, when they were stopped, killed and buried at the site.
Based on a complaint lodged by an area resident, Abdul Majid Abdul Rauf, a case was filed in the Kalavanchikudy circuit court in 2014.
At its first hearing, the judge ordered exhumations, but that did not materialize.
Rauff then filed a motion at the Kalavanchikudy magistrate’s court which has been taken up from time to time.
The case will be heard again on 23 September.
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