Murdered Tamil journalist remembered in Jaffna

15 February 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 theCommittee 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.