Journalist Sukirtharajan ‘2006

On 24.01.2006, Mr.S.S.Rajan, Thirukonamalai correspondent for “Sudar Oli,” a Tamil daily published from Colombo was shot dead at the  morning around 6:00 close to his residence while waiting for transport to his workplace. The victim, 35-year old Subramaniam Sugirtharajan, a father of two, has been working in the Sri Lanka Port Authority. His residence is located along the Lower Road facing the Thirukonamalai harbor in the suburb of Orr’s Hill in Thirukonamalai. The Governor’s secretariat is situated close to the scene of crime. Police rushed to the site and began investigation into the crime. Residents in Trincomalee said that Rajan was instrumental in exposing the involvement of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in the recent execution style killing of the five (Trinco -5) students.

Reporters sans frontieres (RSF) Press Release, 24 January 2006

Reporters Without Borders today condemned the murder of Subramaniyam Sugirdharajan, a correspondent of the Tamil-language daily Sudar Oli in the eastern city of Trincomalee, who was gunned down early this morning after writing about the abuses committed in his region by Tamil paramilitary groups

We are horrified by the level of violence against Tamil journalists, the press freedom organisation said.The impunity enjoyed by the instigators and perpetrators of these murders encourages more violence against the press We urge Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake to do everything possible to ensure that the police identify and arrest Sugirdharajann`s murderers, as well as the murderers of Relangi Sevaraja and Dharmeratnam Sivaram, who are still at large ?

Sugirdharajan is the third Tamil journalist to have been killed in the past 12 months Ten others have been arrested, physically attacked or threatened by the security forces or the Tamil armed movements

Aged 35 and the father of two small children, Sugirdharajan was a Trincomalee port employee as well as a journalist He was shot dead at about 6 a.m.  as he was waiting for public transport to go to work His killers used a motor-cycle to get away after shooting him. Police went to the scene of the murder According to the Tamilnet website, he was gunned down near the governor`s secretariat

In an article for yesterday’s issue of Sudar Oli, he detailed the abuses committed by Tamil paramilitary groups including the EPDP in the Trincomalee region The newspaper also recently ran photos taken by Sugirdharajan showing that five Trincomalee students were shot dead at point-blank range on 2 January, disproving the army’s claim that they were killed by a grenade explosion

Sudar Oli, which tends to support the Tamil Tigers (LTTE), was attacked and threatened several times last year Two grenades were thrown at the office of its advertising department on 20 August but did not explode Three days later, a staff journalist was roughed up and detained by the police on suspicion of being an LTTE spy. A security guard, David Selvaratnum, was killed in a grenade attack outside the newspaper’s office in Colombo on 29 August Sudar Oli belongs to the Jaffna-based press group Uthayan, which has also been the target of attacks.

LTTE condemns Tamil journalist’s killing

Trincomalee district political section of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Tuesday condemned the killing of Mr.S.S.Rajan, Trincomalee correspondent of the Colombo based Tamil daily ‘Sudar Oli’. “Para military groups collaborating with the Sri Lanka Army had committed this murder”, LTTE accused in a statement released Tuesday, sources said.  This is not the first time a Tamil journalist has been killed. This is the latest murder in the series of killing of Tamil journalists Mr.NimalarajanMr.Nadesan and Mr.Sivaram, said the statement.

The culprits had committed the murder in the area amid heavy presence of soldiers of the State armed forces. The murder is an attack not only on Tamil journalists who fight for truth without arms, but also on Sinhala media persons, the statement said.

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