Responding to the news of seven Eelam Tamils being captured and tortured by Russian forces, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry slammed the asylum asserting that they are illegal migrants and refuse to return to Sri Lanka.

^{Photograph: Public Kharkiv}

Several Eelam Tamils were captured by Russian forces in Ukraine and tortured for months, before finally being released earlier this month.

The group, made up of 6 men and 1 woman, were held captive by the Russian forces in Vovchansk during the occupation of the city. It was recaptured by Ukraine earlier this month.

A travelling memorial dedicated to Lt Col Thileepan, a political leader of the LTTE who undertook a hunger strike until death in 1987, travelled through Mullivaikkal this week.

During the 51^st session of the UN Human Rights Council session, a large crowd of Eelam Tamils engaged in a peaceful demonstration and commemorated the 35^th anniversary of   Lt Col. Thileepan’s hunger strike to death.

More signatures calling for the repeal of the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) were collected in Anuradhapura and Puttalam today after a mass campaign was launched last week.  

The campaign initiated by the Ilankai Thamilarasu Katchi Youth Wing, Justice for All and the Alliance of Trade Union & MassYouth Front organisations, demands the Sri Lankan government to repeal the notorious legislation which has been used disproportionately to detain and torture Tamils and Muslims.

Speaking with Tamil Guardian, Sandya Ekneligoda, wife of forcibly disappeared journalist and human rights activist Prageeth Ekneligoda, gave a damning indictment of Sri Lanka’s judiciary maintaining that it is not “free and independent” and could not deliver justice for victims.

During the 51st session of the UN Human Rights Council, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) spokesperson and MP MA Sumanthiran spoke with Tamil Guardian on a range of topics, including the latest UN resolution, the economy of the Tamil homeland, the need for an ICC referral and current geopolitical tensions between India and China.

“He’s holding the seat for the Rajapaksa government”

Speaking to Tamil Guardian at the 51st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), representatives of the Tamil families of the disappeared reiterated their lack of confidence in domestic mechanisms such as the Office of the Missing Persons (OMP) and how the Sri Lankan state has been trying to quash their continuous roadside protests. 

Vanessa Nanthakumaran, a 56-year-old British Tamil, was the first person to pay her respect to the late British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, and has been interviewed by a range of British media outlets.

“It was an emotional experience," she told The Guardian. "I was fighting back tears as I approached the coffin and I managed to dignify myself,” added Nanthakumaran, from Harrow in London.