WHILE FREE MEDIA MOVEMENT DEMANDS RELEASE OF THREE MEN GOVERNMENT PUTS UP VIDEO SHOWING THEIR CONFESSION ON RECEIVING ARMS AND TRAINING FROM TIGERS

By Walter Jayawardhana

While Sri Lanka’s politically motivated Free Media Movement demanded that three radicals attached to a Railway trade union bi-monthly newspaer be immediately released the Sri Lanka Defense Ministry website put up video clips of the three making confessions that said they have received three consignments of weapons and explosives from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) after short term weapons training by the terrorist group.

The three belonging to the majority Sinhalese ethnic group and Marxist oriented were arrested by the Sri Lanka Army on Monday , were planning to kill at least one Minister called Sreepathi unsuccessfully for the Tamil Tigers and were working for the publication of a trade union although their kind of journalism did not belong to regular professional journalism.

The Free Media Movement has also listed the support of world organizations such as Reporters without Frontiers and other such bodies to obtain the support for their cause.

The three Sinhalese men Lalith Seneviratne, a former journalist attached to the Hiru but now working for the union publication, Akuna (thunderbolt), Sisira Priyantha and Nihal Serasinghe were no full time journalists but the Free Media Movement listed the support of international bodies as the Reporters Without Frontiers for their release from the custody.

According to a seven minute video clip put up by the Defence.lk website Seneviratne speaking probably from a prison cell said they had made several trips to the LTTE held Kilinochchi area and had received three consignments of arms and ammunition from the LTTE through somebody who brought them to Welisara, a suburb of Colombo.

They had also made several failed attempts to explode a claymore mine targeting a Minister called Sripathy and also other targets. Thousands of web viewers saw Lalith Seneviratna, now working for Akuna who had undergone weapons and explosive training under LTTE was confessing to the Army following his arrest that they have used the C4 explosives sent by the LTTE for simultaneous explosions in Kiribathgoda, Rajagiriya, Nugegoda and Dehiwala areas.

H e said, in his confession, showed in a video put up on the web, that two years ago a team comprising himself, Shamal, Jagath, Janaka, Priyantha and Habali underwent weapons training, physical training and explosives training for seven to eight days at an LTTE facility. He said he was a former member of the JVP and contested on the party ticket in the 1994 election but later went out of the party due to party differences. He did not give a new name to his new group of Marxists and said they were determined to free Sri Lanka from the mew colonialism of the imperialists.

Seneviratna said the LTTE contact Ravi has given them Rs. 10 to 11 lakhs for expenses. He said he lived in Canada and returned there.

A second batch including Sujeeva, Sarath and Keerthi led by Shamal also underwent weapons and explosive training under the LTTE.

He said that an attempt to explode two claymore mines in Koggala by them also failed and then they attempted to attack the Indian Oil Company filling stations but later dropped the idea He also revealed that they have received three consignments of weapons and explosives including T-56 rifles, C4 explosives, pistols, ammunition and claymore mines from the LTTE for various missions in the City and suburbs.

According to his confession they are responsible for placing claymore mines in the Kadawatha, Kirindiwela and Koggala areas recently, but their IED‘s did not work..

Sisira Priyantha a railway worker and also the Treasurer of the Joint Front of Railway Trade Union who had also worked as a journalist in his confession revealed that he had transported two kilograms of C4 explosives to Galle.

Nihal Senasinghe, who had done graphic work for newspapers was also arrested along with the other two journalists and said he was married to a Tamil woman from the Ragala area called Pakya lakshmi..

The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists demanded the release of the three men.