Husband was stripped by Sri Lankan army after his surrender - relatives testify in Kilinochchi

 01 May 2016

Sri Lanka’s Presidential Commission on disappearances made its final sitting in Kilinochchi last week, calling over a thousand witnesses to testify about their missing relatives.

The wife of former LTTE member Kannan, alias Gnanaselvan Uthayarasa, testified after seeing a photo of her husband with other captive LTTE cadres stripped naked and alive at the hands of the Sri Lankan military. 

“My husband is an LTTE member that surrendered to the army on May 18, 2009.

I and my two children witnessed it in person. Thereafter there is no information about my husband

Under these circumstances I got photo evidences of war crimes telecast by Channel 4. There were photos of my husband taken while he was taken by the army in stripped condition, and was seen sitting near a ditch.” 

The mother of Selvaratnam Uthayaraj related that her son has been missing since 2006 when he was moved to the Vembirai camp, from the Meesalai camp, where he was held by the army from December 2005.

“Both hands my son's were tied to a coconut tree behind him,” the mother said, recalling her sister’s visit to Meesalai. “A food packet was kept on ground near his feet for him to consume by licking it like a dog.”