REFUGEE

Media and human rights activists in Sri Lanka have urged the British authorities to arrest the suspected killer of Jaffna journalist Nimalarajan Mylvaganam on 19 October 2009.
Nimalarajan, who worked for BBC Tamil and Sinhala services as well as Ravaya and Virakesari newspapers, was brutally shot dead allegedly by gunmen from the Tamil paramilitary group, EPDP.

Colleagues and rights activists believe that it is his reporting of widespread vote rigging in Jaffna, in Kayts islands in particular, during the general elections was the main reason for his untimely death.


For years, Kayts islands are manned by Sri Lanka navy personnel and the EPDP.
Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumarathunga administration, of which President Rajapaksa, SB Dissanayake and Mangala Samaraweera were senior ministers, failed to bring the culprits into books despite constant appeals by Sri Lankan and international rights groups.

The alleged killer, widely known as Napoleon, and some other EPDP members were arrested but disappeared after they were granted bail few years ago.

Napoleon is a senior member of the EPDP. Social affairs minister Douglas Devananda, a militant leader turned a politician, is the leader of the EPDP.

It is believed that Napoleon has left Sri Lanka with the help of Minister Devananda. Napoleon is reported to have claimed political asylum in Great Britain.

It is also widely believed that Minister Devananda never forgets to meet Napoleon on his visits to UK.

Activists accuse the British authorities of failing to take any action or refuse his asylum application despite being informed of serious allegations against Napoleon.

The UK is known to be lenient towards many serious human rights violators including Chile’s General Pinochet and Sri Lanka’s Karuna Amman, currently a minister in Mahinda Rajapaksa government.