Journalists Killed in 2006 - Motive Confirmed: Subramaniyam Sugitharajah
Publisher | Committee to Protect Journalists |
Publication Date | January 2007 |
Cite as | Committee to Protect Journalists, Journalists Killed in 2006 - Motive Confirmed: Subramaniyam Sugitharajah, January 2007, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/4e64960ac.html [accessed 6 June 2023] |
Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Sudar Oli
January 24, 2006, in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka
An unidentified gunman killed Tamil journalist Sugitharajah as the reporter was on his way to work in the eastern port town of Trincomalee.
Sugitharajah, a part-time reporter for Tamil-language daily Sudar Oli, was killed just weeks after he reported on the January 2 killing of five Tamil students in Trincomalee, according to news Web site TamilNet.
Military spokesmen initially said that the men were killed by their own grenade in a botched attack on the army, but photographs taken by Sugitharajah showed that the men had died of gunshot wounds. The government ordered a probe into the deaths. "Mr.
Sugitharajah was a fearless reporter and we believe he was killed to demoralize journalists working in the northeast," Sudar Oli Managing Director E. Saravanapavam told The Associated Press.
The offices of Sudar Oli had been attacked repeatedly in the preceding months. On August 29, 2005, a grenade attack at the printing press killed a security guard.
Just days earlier, activists from the People's Liberation Front (JVP) political party turned over to police a photographer for the newspaper and accused him of spying for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The newspaper and its Jaffna-based sister publication Uthayan came under attack by both LTTE and anti-LTTE forces in political violence.
Medium: | |
Job: | Print Reporter |
Beats Covered: | Corruption, Politics |
Gender: | Male |
Local or Foreign: | Local |
Freelance: | No |
Type of Death: | Murder |
Suspected Source of Fire: | Government Officials |
Impunity: | Yes |
Taken Captive: | No |
Tortured: | No |
Threatened: | No |