The Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,
Referring to the case of Mr. Kiddinan Sivanesan, a member of parliament for Jaffna belonging to the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), who was killed in a Claymore mine attack on 6 March 2008 in the Vanni area, as outlined in the report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians (CL/188/13(b)-R.1), and to the resolution adopted at its 187th session (October 2010); referring also to the report on the mission to Sri Lanka carried out by the Committee in February 2008 (CL/183/12(b)-R.2),
Recalling the following: Mr. Sivanesan's vehicle was targeted when he was returning to his residence in Mallaavi after attending parliamentary sessions in Colombo; the attackers reportedly exploded four mines in a row; Mr. Sivanesan's driver was killed instantly and Mr. Sivanesan succumbed to his injuries while being rushed to hospital; the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has claimed that the killing was perpetrated by deep penetration units of the Sri Lankan military, which has been denied by the Sri Lankan military, who have blamed it on the LTTE; the authorities have consistently pointed to the fact that the killing took place in an area controlled by the LTTE at the time and that the police had consequently no access for investigating and that, moreover, no complaint had been lodged,
Considering that the source has provided no further information enabling the Committee to continue examining this case and that, moreover, owing to the circumstances of this killing, the prospects of identifying those responsible are extremely remote,
Decides therefore to close this case, while deeply regretting that this murder has remained unpunished, and requests the Committee to reopen it should new evidence come to light.
HUMAN RIGHTS