Democratic Tamil National Alliance media spokesperson Suresh Premachandran has called on the government to begin forensic investigation of the skeletal remains recovered at the Chemmani mass grave immediately, rather than waiting for the excavation to conclude.
Addressing the media, Premachandran noted that more than 500 sets of remains had been exhumed over more than 100 days of digging, but said no DNA testing had begun and that he saw no sign the government had moved towards the next phase of the investigation.
Obtaining DNA samples from the families of those who disappeared during the conflict would make it possible to establish whether the remains belong to the disappeared, he said.
Premachandran said Sri Lanka does not have the technological capacity or forensic expertise for an examination on this scale, and argued the work should be entrusted to international institutions and conducted to internationally accepted legal and investigative standards. He urged civil society bodies and international human rights organisations to recognise that completing an investigation this complex within Sri Lanka alone was, in his view, extremely unlikely.
The government should not delay the process until every remaining set of remains is recovered, he added. Work on those already exhumed should start now.
Where the excavation stands
The dig has passed its 102nd day, with 524 sets of remains identified and 513 fully exhumed, making Chemmani the largest mass grave uncovered in Sri Lanka. The count stood at 507 when the excavation reached 100 days earlier this month.
Legal experts at the site have stressed that exhumation is only the first stage. Forensic examination to establish age, sex and possible cause of death must precede DNA analysis and identification.
Calls for international oversight have been made repeatedly. Families of the disappeared told a visiting European Union delegation last month that they would not accept domestic mechanisms. The International Commission of Jurists has urged that the excavation comply with the Minnesota Protocol and be placed under sustained international oversight, warning that Sri Lanka lacks a specialised legal and institutional framework for investigating mass graves and that earlier excavations at Chemmani and Mannar produced no identifications or prosecutions.
At a hearing last month the Criminal Investigation Department told the Jaffna Magistrate’s Court that it had not yet been established whether a crime took place at the site, as it sought permission for scientific testing to determine the age of the remains. Decisions on further examinations are expected at a hearing on October 14.
Sources: Tamil Guardian.
