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A blue schoolbag in a mass grave. Sri Lanka’s bloody past is re-emerging from the soil
The excavation revealed personal items and skeletal remains, with over 90% uncovered without clothing, intensifying demands for independent international investigations into wartime abuses.
- Earlier this year construction workers unearthed human remains in a Hindu cemetery, prompting a court-ordered excavation in May and June that found 19 skeletons and ultimately 240 remains at Chemmani, with personal items like a blue school bag recovered.
- The conflict between the Sri Lankan army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam produced up to 100,000 deaths and thousands of disappearances, especially among the ethnic Tamil community.
- Evidence at the scene shows that investigators found skeletons including children and babies, with more than 90% of remains lacking clothing, and bodies buried in shallow graves of 1.5-2 feet, according to HRCSL.
- The government has responded by promising a truth commission and independent prosecutor as hundreds of residents marched on August 30 demanding international oversight, while UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk urged formal acknowledgment of violations.
- Despite calls for outside oversight, the OMP, established in 2017, lost trust as it traced just 23 of over 23,000 cases, while previous probes often stalled and work at Chemmani had not restarted.
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Editor’s note: This article contains images and descriptions that some readers may find disturbing. Two human skeletons lie entwined on rough earth: the arms of one wrap the head of the other, as if trying to protect it from danger. Known simply as numbers 177 and 178, their identities remain a mystery. They are part of the 240 human bone remains, including children and babies, discovered in this mass grave in Chemmani, in the Jaffna district, n…
·Washington, United States
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources14
Leaning Left1Leaning Right0Center11Last UpdatedBias Distribution92% Center
Bias Distribution
- 92% of the sources are Center
92% Center
C 92%
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