The Muttur Massacre: Justice delayed is justice denied

Insight
By Editor_1
On August 6, 2006, when ACF teams finally managed to reach Muttur, they discovered the first 15 bodies in the offices, face down, with ACF T-shirts visible and gunshot wounds in the head and neck. Two more bodies are found later in a vehicle - Eric Fenot pour Action contre la Faim

By Groundviews

“For Muttur, and for humanitarians everywhere, we will never forget, and we will never give up.” Perrine Benoist, Action Against Hunger Co-Director General.

“Just after the murders, I went to Sri Lanka and I met the families. We promised them that we would never forget and that we would keep fighting for justice. That promise remains until today, twenty years later.” Benoit Miribel, Action Against Hunger Director General in 2006. 

In August of 2006, the small town of Muttur in the Trincomalee district was caught in the middle of fierce fighting between security forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a battle won by the government soldiers. The LTTE retreated, and the army took control of the town on August 2.

Sri Lankan staff members of the Paris-based international aid organization Action contre la Faim (Action Against Hunger or ACF) were caught up in the shelling and shooting, stranded in their office compound.

The military informed foreign journalists who were shown the scene that the LTTE had murdered the 13 men and four women, all Tamils except for one Muslim. However, reporting by the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) later exposed the official account. The group said that two police constables and naval special forces commandos were responsible for the killings and that senior police and justice officials were involved in a cover-up.

The massacre, one of the most serious ever committed against humanitarian workers, has gone unpunished. For 20 years, ACF has fought for the truth and justice, condemning flawed inquiries and calling upon the international community to recognize who was responsible and ensure justice for the victims.

ACF had been working in Sri Lanka since 1996, and since 2001 in Muttur. The association ran water, hygiene and sanitation programs there as well as food security projects. It left the country in 2008.

Seventeen ACF humanitarian workers were shut away in its offices despite the ICRC’s attempts to evacuate them, which failed due to the fighting. On the evening of August 3, the office was made as visible as possible with ACF flags and stickers, and the Trincomalee police confirmed to ACF that the police and soldiers present in Muttur were aware of the presence of humanitarian workers there.

The army declared that it had taken back control of Muttur. Around 7:00 a.m. ACF lost contact with its teams in Muttur. It tried to organize an evacuation by road but was stopped at an army checkpoint 10 kilometres from Muttur. The first rumours of the massacre began to emerge, but the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission and ACF were prevented from entering Muttur by the army, officially for security reasons.

On August 6, after several attempts, the ACF teams finally managed to reach Muttur. They discovered the first 15 bodies in the offices, face down, with ACF T-shirts visible and gunshot wounds in the head and neck. Two more bodies were found later in a vehicle. They were young people, most of them aged between 23 and 36, who came from local communities. Together, they were an experienced team recognized for their crucial role in post-tsunami assistance efforts.

The evidence gathered by ACF, independent NGOs and international observers indicated that the likely culprits were members of the security forces.

The ACF workers had been on a daily assignment to Muttur when the LTTE attacked and temporarily took control of the town. The workers were advised by the army to remain in their compound rather than to evacuate. Police reports indicated that the police concluded that the LTTE was responsible for the killings without any investigations. Seven months after the murders, the CID had not interviewed any member of the security forces nor any witness, other than some of the relatives of those killed.

The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission found that “there cannot be any other armed groups than the security forces who could have been behind the act,” as by the date of the killing the security forces had gained full control over Muttur.

Flaws in the police investigation were also identified, including, among others, a delay of several days before the police took any action, neglect of preservation of evidence at the crime scene and failure to undertake many elementary forensic analyses. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Investigation on Sri Lanka report (OISL report) observed that evidence was also tampered with or disappeared.

ACF cooperated in several national investigations run by the authorities but concluded in 2008 that these investigations were marred by irregularities. “Local police did not fulfil their obligations to secure the crime scene, preserve evidence or even collect the bodies of those killed. The bodies of our slain colleagues were left in the compound for several days, until Action Against Hunger staff finally gained access and themselves had no option but to load the bodies of their colleagues onto trucks.

“Furthermore, investigations were the subject of politically motivated interference. This included failure to secure evidence such as bullets which may have pointed to the responsibility of the Sri Lankan Special Forces, the intimidation of witnesses to prevent them from testifying, and orders from high-level officials in the Sri Lankan government to stop investigating certain people,” ACF said in a new report, 20 Years On From The Muttur Massacre Of Aid Workers.

“Twenty years on, we are calling on the Sri Lankan government to reopen a transparent, independent and effective investigation to identify the people responsible for the execution of our colleagues. Sri Lanka, like many other states, has signalled its commitment to accountability for attacks on humanitarians. We further call on other states to push for accountability in this case, and join us in the fight against impunity for attacks on humanitarian workers across the world… Over the years, Action Against Hunger and other actors have publicly reported on the lack of accountability for the murder of our colleagues at Muttur, the probable perpetrators of this crime, as well as efforts to hide culpability.

“The families of the victims are those who suffer the most, enduring acute trauma and grief from the memories of that terrible period, and the violent way in which their loved one was killed continues to haunt them. The lack of justice in this case has been a significant source of suffering amongst family members,” the report said.

While the government made a 2024 election pledge to establish an independent prosecutor to pursue emblematic cases from the civil war, it has yet to be formed.

ACF called on the authorities to reopen an impartial, transparent and effective investigation into the massacre and for states to call on Sri Lanka to address the impunity in the Muttur case by opening an impartial, transparent and effective investigation into the events of 2006.

The international community, including the UN, should continue to follow up at all levels on any developments on the case, it said, pointing out that Sri Lanka has shown its commitment to the protection of humanitarian workers by signing the Declaration for the Protection of Humanitarian Personnel. It called on Sri Lanka to make good on its commitments under the Declaration and International Humanitarian Law and finally provide answers to the families.

-groundviews.org

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