Mother of slain journalist passes away without ever seeing justice

 

09 June 2022

The mother of Sahathevan Nilakshan, an up and coming Tamil journalist who was murdered by suspected Sri Lankan military intelligence personnel in 2007 passed away this months, just weeks before the 15th anniversary of her son’s killing.

The 22-year-old media student at Jaffna University and budding journalist, was gunned down in front of his home. At a time when the Jaffna district was on lockdown due to military-imposed curfew, and the city’s streets were heaving with troops, so-called unidentified gunmen were able to approach Nilakshan’s home in Kokkuvil, a busy suburb less than 5km away from town.

"My son was innocent,” said his mother Selvarani Sahadevan in 2018. "The culprits who were behind this killing should be punished. Many Tamil journalists were killed but still there is no justice."

“His death certificate mentioned that death occurred from brain damage and shock due to the shots,” she added.

She noted that at the time, Nilakshan had attended a remembrance event for Taraki Sivaram, a prominent Tamil journalist who was also murdered. Sivaram was a prominent Tamil journalist and then editor of TamilNet, when he was kidnapped and murdered in Colombo in 2005.

"Maybe the military thought that Sivaram's death should not be commemorated,” said Ms Sahadevan.

Her passing comes just weeks before the 15th anniversary of his killing.

No one has ever been held accountable for the murder.