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Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka: Killing of aid workers of NGO Action Contre La Faim (ACF) in Muttur

Mr. Benoit Miribel, Executive Director and Mr. Thomas Gonnet, the Director of Operations of the NGO Action Contre la Faim (Action Against Hunger - ACF) met Hon. Mahinda Samarasinghe, Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights today to discuss the status of investigation into the killing of 17 staff members of the ACF in Muttur, Secretary-General of the Peace Secretariat, Senior Superintendent of Police of CID and a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were also present at the discussion.
At the outset, Hon. Mahinda Samarasinghe reiterated the position of the Government of Sri Lanka that it has strongly condemned the assassination and an impartial and transparent investigation into the incident was being conducted.

Hon. Mahinda Samarasinghe briefed the representatives of ACF with regard to the action being undertaken by the Government so far in this regard.

Upon the request made by the Government of Sri Lanka, the Australian Government has already sent two forensic pathologists and a ballistics expert to assist the CID which has now taken over the investigations.

The Hon. Minister also mentioned that soon after the bodies of 17 workers were recovered, a conscious decision was taken by the Police requesting the next of kin not to cremate the bodies and to bury them so that a request to exhume the bodies, if the need arises during the course of the investigation, could be made from the Magistrate. Accordingly, the 17 bodies have been buried and a judicial order would be obtained if necessary, to exhume the bodies.

The SSP/CID informed that the Inspector General of Police together with the special team of CID officers appointed by the IGP to take over the investigations have already met the Australian experts and the judicial medical officers who have already conducted the postmortem.

The Hon. Minister also requested the representatives of ACF to share any information that they have received so far, with the CID to facilitate the investigation. Accordingly, the representatives of ACF are expected to meet the special CID tem in the evening today.

The Hon. Minister also requested the representatives of ACF not to wind up their operation in Sri Lanka due to this tragic incident as ACF has been a well-respected international NGO, which has served in Sri Lanka for many years. He also added that this was the first time during the history of conflict that such an incident has taken place and as a result the Government is determined to conduct a thorough investigation in a transparent manner to bring the perpetrators of this crime to justice.

The representatives of the ACF were assured that the developments with regard to the investigations into the incident would be shared with them on regular basis.