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A Tamil driver in Mullaitivu has been admitted to hospital after intoxicated Sri Lankan military officers assaulted him with a palm stick wrapped in barbed wire on Monday.
Navaratnam Uthayaseelan was driving his tipper vehicle in the Kaiveli area in the early hours of Monday morning, when he reports being stopped by plainclothes Sri Lankan military officials.
The officers, at least two of whom Uthayaseelan says were visibly intoxicated and smelt of alcohol, proceeded to question the 41-year-old about the contents of his vehicle. When he replied that there was nothing in the tipper, he reports being violently assaulted.
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The Sri Lankan officers struck him several times with a palm stick wrapped in barbed wire, said Uthayaseelan, who has since been admitted to hospital with facial injuries.
Whilst the victim was still in hospital, just hours later his friends and family members reportedly received phone calls warning Uthayaseelan to withdraw a police complaint that he had made.
JDS Lanka notes that this is the second such attack in recent months on Tamils by Sri Lankan officers using a barbed wire-wrapped palm stick. In November 2021, Tamil journalist, Vishvalingam Vishvachandran was assaulted in Mullivaikkal by Sri Lankan soldiers with a similarly fashioned weapon.
See more from JDS here.
