{"id":74166,"date":"2013-02-19T00:26:58","date_gmt":"2013-02-19T00:26:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=74166"},"modified":"2020-03-25T16:54:47","modified_gmt":"2020-03-25T11:24:47","slug":"warning-disturbing-images-the-last-hours-of-the-son-of-prabhakaran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/warning-disturbing-images-the-last-hours-of-the-son-of-prabhakaran\/","title":{"rendered":"Warning – Disturbing Images: The Last Hours Of The Son Of Prabhakaran"},"content":{"rendered":"

New photographs have emerged which raise fresh questions about the conduct of Sri Lanka\u2019s armed forces during the final stages of the operation against Tamil rebels and have led to claims the 12-year-old son of the militants\u2019 leader may have been summarily executed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

A series of photographs taken a few hours apart and on the same camera, show Balachandran Prabhakaran, son of Villupillai Prabhakaran, head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). One of them shows the boy sitting in a bunker, alive and unharmed, apparently in the custody of Sri Lankan troops. Another, a few hours later, shows the boy\u2019s body lying on the ground, his chest pierced by bullets.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The images were taken in May 2009 at the very end of the Sri Lankan government\u2019s operation to crush the LTTE, which had launched a bloody, decades-long insurgency against the state that led to the deaths of perhaps 70,000 people. The authorities always said Prabhakaran\u2019s son was killed in cross-fire, as troops moved in to take the LTTE\u2019s last stronghold, located on a scrap of coastline near Mullaitivu in the north-east of the country.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But the images, contained in a new documentary, No Fire Zone, which will be screened at the Geneva Human Rights Film Festival during the UN Human Rights Council meeting in March, suggest the boy was captured alive and killed at a later stage.<\/p>\n

A forensic pathologist who examined the later images for the film-makers, said the boy was shot five times in the chest. Furthermore, propellant burns around the wound suggest he was shot at very close range.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe new photographs are enormously important evidentially because they appear to rule out any suggestion that Balachandran was killed in cross-fire or during a battle. They show he was held, and even given a snack, before being taken and executed in cold blood,\u201d claimed the film\u2019s director, Callum Macrae.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is difficult to imagine the psychology of an army in which the calculated execution of a child can be allowed with apparent impunity. That these events were also photographed and kept as war trophies by the perpetrators is even more disturbing.\u201d The 12-year-old\u2019s father, Prabhakaran, was killed along with most of the senior leadership of the LTTE as Sri Lanka\u2019s army advanced on the rebels\u2019 position. There were reports at the time that several LTTE officials were shot and killed as they tried to surrender.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Prabhakaran\u2019s body was displayed on state television, part of the front of his skull missing, also suggesting he may have been shot at close range. The Sri Lankan authorities have always denied shooting anyone who was trying to surrender. Last night, Brigadier PR Wanigasooriya, an army spokesman, said Sri Lanka had been a repeated victim of\u00a0 \u201clies, half truths, rumours, and numerous forms of speculations\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo substantive evidence have been presented for us to launch an investigation,\u201d he added, referring to alleged human rights abuses.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka has always insisted it did what it could to ensure no civilians were killed during its operation against the LTTE. Yet a team appointed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon found that up to 40,000 civilians may have been killed. The team said there were credible allegations both sides committed war crimes.<\/p>\n

The photographs will place additional pressure on David Cameron to announce whether or not he will attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting (CHOGM), e in Sri Lanka in November. A Downing Street official with Mr Cameron on his visit to India said on Monday that no decision had yet been taken.<\/p>\n

NGOs and organisations, among them the cross-party Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, have called on him to boycott the meeting.<\/p>\n

Courtesy the Independent UK<\/p>\n

Related posts;<\/p>\n

Killing Balachandran And Saving Uvindu<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Killing Of A Young Boy<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

New Evidence:The Death Of Colonel Ramesh \u2013 Warning Disturbing Images<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Why Are We Not Looking At These War Crimes?<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Sri Lanka Can\u2019t Deny: Colombo Telegraph Revelation Turns Sri Lanka\u2019s War Crime In To A New Chapter<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Exclusive \u2013 Warning Disturbing Images: Issapriya\u2019s Naked Body With Tied And Untied Hands<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Warning Disturbing Images: New Footage Of Alleged War Crimes<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Disturbing Images Of war Crimes: Rape And Killings<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ministry of Defence propaganda film \u201cLies Agreed Upon\u201d misses the point<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":74167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2187,1,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-most-popular","category-news","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"\nWarning - Disturbing Images: The Last Hours Of The Son Of Prabhakaran - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/warning-disturbing-images-the-last-hours-of-the-son-of-prabhakaran\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Warning - 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