In speeches from the dock, the two men announced that they would donate their eyes in the hope that they would be grafted on to Eelam Tamils who would see the birth of Tamileelam, the independent state they were fighting. Second hand reports from Mattakalappu gaol, where the survivors of the Welikada massacre are now being kept, say that the two men were forced to kneel and their eyes gouged out with iron bars before they were killed. One version has it that Kutimani’s tounge was cut out by an attacker who drank the blood and cried: “I have drunk the blood of a Tiger.”

The two men were among the 35 killed in the Welikada gaol on July 25. Another 17 were killed in the gaol two days later and the Guardian has obtained a first hand account of part of the fighting in this incident, including the circumstances in which Dr. Rajasunderam, died.

Dr. Rajasunderam was one of nine men, including two Catholic Eelamtamil priests and a Methodist minister, who were moved out of their cells immediately after the July 25 killings – to make way for survivors moved into their cells on security grounds into a padlocked hall, upstairs in the same block. The nine, convinced that further attacks were coming, made repeated representations to the prison authorities on July 26 for better security measures. Assurances were given that they would be protected, but nothing was done.

At 2:30 pm in July 27, hearing screaming and whistling outside, one of the priests looked out of a high window and saw prisoners breaking in from a neighboring compound, wielding axes, iron bars, pieces of firewood, and sticks. There was no sign of the prison guards. The mob, which was later found to have killed 16 prisoners in the downstairs cells, ran up to the hall and began breaking the padlock.

Dr. Rajasunderam then went to the door and cried out: “Why are you trying to kill us? What have we done to you?” At that moment, the door burst open and Dr. Rajasunderam was hit on the side of the neck by a length of iron. Blood was seen to spurt several feet. “At that juncture, we thought we should defend ourselves,” one of the prisoners related. “We broke the two tables in the hall and took the legs to defend ourselves.” “We kept them at bay. They threw bricks at us. We threw them back. Pieces of firewood and an iron bar were thrown at us. We used them to defend ourselves. It went on for about half an hour.

They shouted: ‘You are the Eelam tamil priests, we must kill you.'” The killing was eventually ended by the army, who moved in with tear gas. An inquest has been opened into the Welikada massacres, but the above details did not emerge. Prison warders claim that keys to the cells were stolen from them. Lawyers for the prisoners who have accused the warders of having participated, claim that they were not given the opportunity to bring evidence despite representation to the Government. “

(Source: The Guardian)

The Eelam Tamil prisoners who were massacred in Welikade in July 1983 were:

25th July 1983

Kuttimani Yogachandran, N.Thangathurai, Nadesathasan, Jegan Alias Sivarasa, Sivan Anpalagan, A.Balasubramaniam, SurashKumar, Arunthavarajah, Thanapalasingham, Arafat, Anpalagan Sunduran, P.Mahendran, Ramalingam Balachandran, K.Thillainathan, K.Thavarajasingham, S.Subramaniam, Mylvaganam Sinnaiah, G.Mylvaganam, Ch.Sivanantharajah, T.Kandiah, S.Sathiyaseelan, Kathiravelpillai, Easvaranathan, K.Nagarajah, Gunapalan Ganeshalingam, S.Kularajasekaram, K.Krishnakumar, K.UthayaKumar, R.Yoganathan, S.Sivakumar, A.Uthayakumar, A.Rajan, G.Amirthalingam, S.Balachandran, V.Chandrakumar, YogachandranKilli, Sittampalam Chandrakulam, Navaratnam Sivapatham (Master)

27th July 1983

Muthukumar Srikumar, Gnanamuthu Naveratnasingham, Philip Amirthanayagam, Kandiah Rajendran (Robert), Kulasingam Kumar, Dr.Somasunderam Rajasunderam, Selachami Kumar, Somasunderam Manoranjan, Kandasamy Sarveswaran, Arumugam Seyan (Appu), A.Marianpillai, Thamotharampillai Jegemogenandan, Sivapathan Neethirajah, Sinnathambi Sivasubramaniam, Devanayagam Paskaran, Sellay Rajeratnam, Ponnaiya Thurairajah, Kumarasamy Ganeshalingam, Ponnampalam Devakumar

Details of those Eelamtamils who were massacred in prisons and camps by the Srilankan Army and sinhala mobs:

1979.07.13 – 06 youths including Inpam and Selvam (Nawali, Vidhyayankadu) were massacred in Yaalppanam (Divisional secretriat) army camp.

1983.03 – Navaratnaraja (Trikonamalai – Kilivetty) was assassinated in Kurunagar army camp.

1984.12.02 – 36 people were (Semamadu) Vavuniya  killed  in the Joseph camp.

1985.01.13 – 04 Tamils were killed in Boosa camp.

1985.02.08 – Subbiah Ramasamy (Vavunia) was killed in Vavunia military camp.

1985.03.13 – Velupillai Mahendran (Valvettithurai) was killed in Valvettithurai military camp.

1985.08.14 – 6 Tamils ​​were killed  in Thangalle prison.

1985.09.29 – Rajadurai Balachandran were killed  in Trincomalee Military Hospital.

1985.11.17 – 07 Eelamtamils   were fed poison and killed in Trincomalee army camp

1985.11.30 – Johnson (Jneideen) from Ottamavadi was assassinated at Colombo military headquarters.

1985.11.30 – Joseph (Nagarasa) from Pottuvil was killed at the Colombo military headquarters.

1986.01.07 – Shanmugam Thangarasa was murdered in the Frederick Fort military camp in Thirukonamalai.

1986.01.21 – Jagatheesan, native of Chengaldi, was  murdered at the Sri Lanka Police Station in Mattakalappu

1986.01.31 – Gopalaswamy Sivapalan was killed in Vavuniya army camp.

1986.02.24 – Subramaniam Thirukumaran from Muthur fed poison and  killed by at the Thirukonamalai Naval Base.

1986.03.20 – Dharmalingam Udayakumar (24) of Vavuniya – Bandarikulam was murdered in Vavuniya army camp.

1987.02.14 – Manmadharaja from Chettikulam was murdered in Chettikulam army camp.

1987.04.06 – Gnanasekaran Udayakumar (22) from Alangeni was murdered at Thirukonamalai Naval Base.

1987.06.14 – 09 Tamil youths were murdered in Boosa prison.

1987.07.08 – 02 Tamil youths were massacred in Belawatte detention camp.