The Bindunuwewa Massacre or Bindunuwewa Prison Massacre took place on 24 October 2000 at a detention centre of Bindunuwewa, Sri Lanka, where 27 Tamil detainees were killed by a Sinhalese mob and police.[1][2] The case became emblematic of the institutional discrimination against Tamils as all the accused were acquitted by the Supreme Court.[3]

Background

The low-security detention centre was established to house a total of 41 Tamil youths, the youngest being 12 year old, with alleged links to the rebel group LTTE, though none were formally charged. Some of the inmates included former child soldiers who surrendered to the government.[2] The Sri Lankan government had used the LTTE recruitment of child soldiers as a powerful propaganda tool against the rebels and the UNICEF-supported detention centre for the "rehabilitation" of former child soldiers served as a showpiece aimed at impressing the international community.[4]

Massacre

On 24 October 2000, a mob of a few hundred villagers armed with knives, rods and torches stormed the detention centre. The Sri Lankan Army detachment that was posted there had been withdrawn the previous day, for unknown reasons. Once the massacre started, the posted police personnel refused to intervene to stop it. Of the 26 killed, two were under the age of 21 and the rest were between 21 and 30.[1]

In late October, following the massacre, Sinhalese mob violence spread to other areas of the Hill Country where estate Tamils were attacked and three women were abducted and raped.[5]

Reactions

Initially the government responded by saying that the detainees had rioted and that the massacre was an outcome of an attempt to control the rioting. Then it was claimed that the police were unable to protect the detainees in the face of superior mob force. Eventually, the government charged a few police officers with crime. Most were initially convicted of murder but were later acquitted by the Sri Lankan Supreme Court in 2005.[2] The Supreme Court pinned the blame on the victims and suggested that their alleged LTTE links mitigated the guilt of the accused.[2] The court proceedings were criticized for their unprofessionalism and ethnic bias. International organizations and NGOs were also criticized for their complicity in having knowingly lent legitimacy to the government without ensuring the safety of the detainees.[3] The government has long claimed that they treat captives with care, however, seven traumatized survivors of the massacre reported being taken to a military hospital where they were handcuffed to their beds for 6 months.[6]

Theories

A number of theories have been postulated to explain the massacre:

  • It was organised by local Sinhala nationalist political activists with the connivance of Sri Lankan Army and police personnel.
  • It was a reaction by the local villagers who resented the detention centre in their neighborhood.
  • It was organised by the military establishment to thwart an attempt by the detainees to go on hunger strike in the subsequent days to protest their detention.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "The Curse of Impunity Part I: Bindunuwewa, the Thin End of the Wedge of Impunity". University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna). Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Sri Lanka: Failure of Justice for Victims of Massacre". Human Rights Watch. 2 June 2005. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  3. 1 2 Keenan, Alan (1 June 2005). "No Peace, No War". Boston Review.
  4. ↑ Prentki, Tim; Preston, Sheila, eds. (2009). The Applied Theatre Reader. New York: Routledge. pp. 116–119. ISBN 978-0-415-42886-6.
  5. ↑ "Spreading violence". The Sri Lanka Monitor. No. 153. October 2000. p. 2.
  6. ↑ "Graves of missing haunt Sri Lanka". NY Times. 29 August 2001.


source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bindunuwewa_massacre