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Mirusuwil Massacre : Comprehensive post-mortem conducted on eight bodies - Dr. Kadiravelupillai

by Indeewara Thilakarathne

"I have conducted a comprehensive post-mortem on the eight bodies", said Dr Sinnatambi Kadiravelupillai testifying before the Trial -at -Bar hearing the Mirusuwil massacre in the High Court of Colombo. He was being cross-examined by Defence Counsel Anil Silva.

The Trial-at-Bar comprised High Court Judges S.I.Imam (President), Sarath Ambepitiya and Kumar Ekaratne.

The Attorney General had charged five soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army attached to the Gajabha Regiment of the Saliya Pura camp at Anuradhapura with the murders of eight persons and causing injuries to another who were residents of Mirusuwil in Jaffna on December 19, 2000.

According to the indictment, the accused are charged on 19 counts under section 146 to be read with Section 296 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Anil Silva: "What is the nature of the injury on the body of Sinnaiya Vilvarajah?" Dr Kadiravelupillai: "It was a deep cut injury on the lower part of the neck,". Defence Counsel: "This description of the injury in the post-mortem is incomplete," . Doctor: "I stated a cut injury on the neck"

At the stage, the Defence Counsel Anil Silva stated that responsibility of producing a comprehensive post-mortem is that it can not be changed subsequently and challenged the post-mortem produced by the witness as it did not fulfil that requirement. The witness stated that he produced a comprehensive report and that his report had fulfilled that requirement.

Defence Counsel: "How long will you take to examine internal inhibitions,". Doctor: "It took me 10 minutes,"

The Defence Counsel inquired whether it is possible for a person with cut injuries on the neck to fall unconscious.The witness said that it is possible but it all depends on the cut caused to the tissues.

On questioning on the admission form of Ponnadurai Mahesvaran, the Defence Counsel detected that in the column " History of assault " it was recorded as an assault by an Army officer. The witness admitted that it is an error and that it should be changed as assault by Army officers and that this particular portion on the form was made by an admission officer on duty. The Defence Counsel observed a discrepancy in the copy he had with that the doctor's copy in the form of an additional "S" on the column "History of assault" in the word "army officer". However, the said additional "s" was also recorded in the copy given to the Senior State Counsel.

Defence Counsel: "I suggest that you have added that the letter "S" to your copy to support the prosecution's case?,".

Dr Kadiravelupillai: "It was not so Mahesvaran repeated the history of assault several times when he was being examined by me,". P. K. D. Mithraratne, Mahinda Lokuge with Anil Silva appeared for the five accused while D. W. Abayakoon P.C with Chandrapala Kumarage, K. S. Ratnavale, K. Shanmugalingam, V. Punitharan and M. Remadius appeared for the aggrieved party.

Senior State Counsel Sarath Jayamanna , N. Marasinghe, State Counsel Sanjeeva Dissanayaka and Chetiya Gunasekara appeared for the prosecution.

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