Colombo - Three doctors who provided information to the
media during the height of the military operations against Tamil
separatist rebels in northern Sri Lanka were being questioned by
police before being charged in the courts, a police spokesman said.
The three doctors now in police custody treated people injured in
the conflict and also gave media interviews and e-mailed photographs
on a daily basis before the government retook the last rebel-held
territory in the country and killed the guerilla leadership May 18,
ending a 26-year conflict.
The doctors were being questioned about whether they had
collaborated with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe told journalists in
Colombo that the police also were investigating whether they had
provided misleading information.
The statements by the doctors to local and international media
were also being picked up by the United Nations and international
agencies and used in their official reports.
The doctors - Thiyagaraja Varatharajan, S Sathiyamoorthy and N
Shanmugaraja - were warned by the government to leave the rebel-held
areas but they refused, remaining to provide medical attention to the
people trapped by the conflict.
They eventually departed two days before the LTTE's leadership -
including its top commander, Velupillai Prabhakaran - was killed and
the government declared victory over the rebels.
The doctors were in charge of providing medical care for the
injured after all hospitals in the area were closed and patients were
being moved from place to place as makeshift hospitals were put up.
The doctors could be held for one year under emergency regulations
but would likely be produced in court after their questioning.
USA
Your Talkback on this Story