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

Tamil language Tamil (; ' , ) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. Tamil is an official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the sovereign nations of Sri Lanka and Singapore, and the Indian territory of Pud ...

daily

Sudar Oli ''Sudar Oli'' ( ta, சுடர் ஒளி 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 ...

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

Trincomalee Trincomalee (; ta, திருகோணமலை, translit=Tirukōṇamalai; si, ත්‍රිකුණාමළය, translit= Trikuṇāmaḷaya), also known as Gokanna and Gokarna, is the administrative headquarters of the Trincomalee Dis ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. He was 35 years 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; french: Reporters sans frontières; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization with the stated aim of safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its advocacy as found ...

and the

Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American independent non-profit, non-governmental organization, based in New York City, New York, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journ ...

(CPJ). According to RSF, Sugirdharajan named the

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

(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 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