Sri Lankan government covering up link between abductions, Navy, and former defence secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa - TNA

26 June 2015

The Tamil National Alliance has accused the Sri Lankan government of attempting to cover up increasing evidence linking abductions with former defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaska and the Sri Lankan Navy.

Speaking to journalists in Jaffna, TNA spokesperson and MP, Suresh Premachandran said that an international inquiry would be the sole means by which to discover the truth behind abductions and disappearances in Sri Lanka.

Mr Premachandran said the current government were attempting to cover-up concrete evidence linking the navy and Gotabhaya with abductions, including reports of over 700 imprisoned in a camp known as 'Gota camp' in Trincomalee's naval base.

The government, Mr Premachandran said, addressed the issue long enough only to deny that any such camps presently existed.

Mr Premachandran remarked as follows:

"A Missing Persons Commission report has revealed that twenty thousand people have gone missing. According to this report, neither the previous government nor the new government have to this day revealed what happened to these missing persons."

"Have these missing persons been killed? Or have they been hidden? We still do not know."

"Those that have compiled reports on missing persons have put forward much evidence. Details have been released regarding the date, the place, the military personnel within the vicinity of disappearances or where people were abducted and by whom."

"Furthermore relatives have given testimonies about when and where missing persons presented themselves to the army."

"However no-one related to these incidents has been found or released."

"The Tamil National Alliance pointed out in Parliament that we had reliable reports that over 700 people were held as prisoners in the Trincomalee naval base known as Gota Camp."

"We also questioned what had happened to over 35 families that had been detained in small houses."

"Other than replying that there are no longer any such camps, this government did not delve any further into the matter."

"The government is attempting to close this matter by simply stating that there is no longer such thing as the Gota camp."

"Intelligence officials have revealed in court that naval troops, under the direct command of former naval chief Vasantha Kannangara, were responsible for the kidnapping of 5 students in Colombo and 11 in areas like Wattala and Gampaha and that they extracted millions in ransom from these kidnappings."

"There it is probable that not only in Trincomalee, but in Colombo's naval bases and many other places, people would have been kidnapped for ransom but many others would have been murdered."

"The Gota camp which we mentioned was in Trincomalee's naval base. An investigation involving the former defence secretary and navy chiefs, must take place into the wherabouts of the more than 700 that were imprisoned there. The truth must be discovered from these investigations."

"These truths will only be revealed if the government enables reliable investigations, with international weighting, into secret camps like the Gota camp."

"However the Sri Lankan government is only carrying out actions to cover up everything. This is unacceptable."