Subramaniyam Sugirdharajan (1970 – 24 January 2006), popularly known as SSR, was a Sri Lankan journalist working for the

Tamil language Tamil (, , , also written as ''Tamizhil'' according to linguistic pronunciation) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. It is one of the longest-surviving classical languages in the world,. "Tamil is one of ...

daily

Sudar Oli ''Sudar Oli'' ( Cuṭar Oḷi) is a Tamil language Sri Lankan daily newspaper published by Mass Media Syndicate (Private) Limited, part of the Uthayan Group of Newspapers. It was founded in 2000 and is published from Colombo. Its sister newspape ...

. On 24 January 2006 during the Sri Lankan civil war, he was shot dead in the eastern port city of

Trincomalee Trincomalee (; , ; , ), historically known as Gokanna and Gokarna, is the administrative headquarters of the Trincomalee District and major resort port city of Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, Eastern Province, Sri Lanka. Located on the east coast o ...

. He was 35 years old and the father of two children aged three and two. The assailants were on a motorbike and fired at him from close range.

Background

He was killed a day after writing an article about alleged abuses committed by para-military groups , reported

Free Media Movement The Free Media Movement (FMM) is a media freedom watchdog organization of journalists from Sri Lanka. It evolved out of the standing committee of journalists, which was formed in late 1991. The standing committee was formed by a group of journalist ...

(FMM),

Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders (RWB; ; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organisation, non-governmental organization headquartered in Paris, which focuses on safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its a ...

and the

Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in New York City, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists. The '' American Journalism ...

(CPJ). According to RSF, Sugirdharajan named the

Eelam People's Democratic Party The Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) is a Sri Lankan political party and a pro-government paramilitary organization. It is led by its founder Douglas Devananda. Background Douglas Devananda was one of the founding members of the Eelam Re ...

(EPDP) among several groups in his article that allegedly committed human rights violations in the Trincomalee region. The newspaper he worked for also ran photos taken by Sugirdharajan showing that five Trincomalee students who were shot dead at point-blank range on 2 January 2006, disproving the army's claim that they were killed by a grenade explosion.

Incident

At about 6 a.m. (local time) on 24 January 2006, he was shot and killed as he was waiting for public transport to go to work near the governor's secretaria. His killers used a motorcycle to get away after shooting him. Police went to the scene of the murder.

Government investigation

The international Press institute has called for an impartial government investigation.

References

External links

Sri Lanka mission report

Nine recommendations for improving media freedom in Sri Lanka – RSFMedia in Sri Lanka
1970 births 2006 deaths Deaths by firearm in Sri Lanka Assassinated Sri Lankan journalists Sri Lankan Tamil people Sri Lankan journalists Assassinated Sri Lankan activists Sri Lankan Hindus People murdered in Sri Lanka {{SriLanka-journalist-stub

Background

Incident

Government investigation

See also

References

External links