The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) has started an investigation into the journalist who was injured in an attack by the army in Mullaitivu.
On November 27, a group of soldiers with the army had allegedly attacked Vishwalingam Vishwachandran, a journalist who contributes to ethnic Tamil publications, with a palm stick wrapped in barbed wire while he was covering a commemoration for Sri Lanka’s civil war dead in the northern Mullaitivu district, according to a statement by local press freedom group Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka.
Vishwachandran was subsequently picked up by the Mullaitivu police in their vehicle and admitted to the Mullaitivu Manjolai Hospital for treatment.
On November 30, the Sri Lanka army released a statement denying the attack against Vishwachandran, claiming that its investigation found that the journalist fell backwards over his own motorcycle onto a barbed wire fence before lying on the ground to “pose for visuals for stage-managed filming.”
Meanwhile, the HRCSL has also requested the Headquarters Inspector of the Mullaitivu Police Station to submit a comprehensive investigation report on this incident.
Furthermore, the Commission has requested the HQI to submit the following documents.
- Statements obtained from both parties in connection with the incident and witness
- Investigation carried out at the scene
- Items obtained at the scene of its PR no
- The number of the Medico-legal Examination Form ( MLEF) of the injured journalist.
- B Report
