An investigative report on the murder of Tamil journalist Mylvaganam Nimalarajan was distributed in Mannar and Jaffna last week, as local press clubs and journalists renewed calls for justice more than two decades after his killing.
The Mannar Press Club organised the distribution of the report in the town on Friday, handing copies to members of the public, traders, local government representatives and departmental heads.
The Jaffna Press Club followed, with its president K Selvakumar and fellow journalists sharing the report at the Jaffna Central Bus Stand and surrounding areas.
The report ‘Killing Sri Lankan journalists: The Case of Nimalarajan Mylvaganam' co-authored by the International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) and REDRESS, highlights the failures of Sri Lanka's police in investigating the 2000 murder of Tamil journalist Nimalarajan Mylvaganam.
Nimalarajan contributed to the BBC for over six years, as well as the Tamil daily Virakesari and Sinhala weekly Ravaya. On October 19 2000, Nimalarajan was shot five times in his head and chest whilst he was in his Jaffna home. His father was knifed repeatedly whilst his mother and brother were injured by a hand grenade explosion in their living room.
The government-aligned paramilitary group the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) are suspected of carrying out the killing.
In February 2022, the Metropolitan Police’s War Crimes Team arrested a 48-year-old man in Britain over Nimalarajan's murder. The man was later released.
The report also highlights the cases of other Tamil journalists who were killed or forcibly disappeared by Sri Lankan security forces.
Colombo has consistently resisted calls for international involvement in the case, leaving Nimalarajan’s family and colleagues without justice.
The circulation of the report comes as Tamil journalists continue to face surveillance, intimidation and harassment across the North-East. Families of murdered and disappeared media workers, alongside rights groups, have long insisted that only an international mechanism can deliver justice — a demand Colombo has repeatedly rejected.
