Photograph: @uthayashalin

Mr Nimalarajan, a senior journalist who contributed to the BBC Tamil and Sinhala services, the Tamil daily Virakesari and Sinhala weekly Ravaya, was murdered on October 19th 2000.

The Committee to Protect Journalists stated shortly after his death:

“The assailants shot the journalist through the window of his study, where he was working on an article, and threw a grenade into the home before fleeing the premises. The attack occurred during curfew hours in a high-security zone in central Jaffna town.”

“Local journalists suspect that Nimalarajan's reporting on vote-rigging and intimidation in Jaffna during the recent parliamentary elections may have led to his murder.”

The government aligned paramilitary group the EPDP are suspected of carrying out the killing.

Sri Lankan cabinet spokesperson and government minister Rajitha Senaratne reiterated that there are no political prisoners being kept in Sri Lankan jails, reports the Daily Mirror.

Speaking to reporters at the weekly cabinet news briefing, Mr Senaratne stated that prisoners who have been involved in “terrorist activities during and after the conflict” would be prosecuted as soon as possible.

He added that some of the prosecutions would be “fast tracked” where the Attorney-General felt there is “strong evidence” against the accused.

2nd Lead Updated 22.30 BST 22 Oct 2015

The government’s report on the Second Mandate of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry Into Complaints of Abductions and Disappearances, highlighting that “the duty to prosecute in all circumstances has not yet crystalised into an international norm,” said  “it would also be possible to provide for amnesties from prosecution under national law.”

Noting that the US Secretary of State Jon Kerry on his visit to Sri Lanka “made no reference to war crimes prosecutions, the report suggested that a Truth and Reconciliation with amnesties could also be a possibility. The commission added that if there had been a conclusion of genocide “a criminal investigation with a view to prosecution was unavoidable.”

The report on the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into complaints of Abductions and Disappearances, also known as the Paranagama report contains detailed rejection of the allegations against Sri Lanka's military that it deliberately shelled no fire zones and hospitals.

The report conceded that some of the allegations of war crimes committed are credible, as reported by Channel 4 yesterday, however rationalised the killing of civilians as necessary to end the war.

"The resolve of the Government to end the conflict, even when faced with the unpalatable choice of killing or injuring civilians in the vicinity of LTTE artillery batteries, and other legitimate targets is likely to have saved many more civilian lives and those of the armed forces by bringing the war to a close," the report says.

US Secretary of State said that major gains have been made on democracy in Sri Lanka and highlighted US involvement in several countries.

Speaking at an event in Washington, where he received Foreign Policy magazine's Diplomat of the Year Award, Mr Kerry said,

"I believe that nations obviously – and I’m sure you do – are driven above all by their interests. I think we try to make certain that we’re driven by interests and values simultaneously, and sometimes the interest just overwhelms the value and sometimes the value is foremost and the interests may not be as great,

The UN says it will continue to press for accountability in Sri Lanka.

British government ministers reiterated their backing of a United Nations Human Rights Council resolution on Sri Lanka and the importance of its implementation for truth telling and accountability on the island.

Speaking at an event organized on the fringes of the Conservative Party conference earlier this month, Leader of the House of Commons Chris Grayling voiced his support for the resolution, whilst  Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party Robert Halfon said what had happened to the Tamil people was genocide.

Updated: 2100 GMT

Photographs: Tamil Guardian

Thousands of Tamils in Jaffna attended the funeral of the former head of the Women’s political wing division in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Subramaniam Sivakamy.

Her funeral was attended by Tamil politicians from across the North-East, including from the TNA, TNPF and TULF.

Tamil politicians across the North-East have paid tribute to Col. Thamilini, the former head of the Women’s political division in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who died on Sunday at the age of 43.

Thousands of Tamils attended her funeral in Jaffna on Tuesday.

“The grief and affection shown by our people at the loss of Thamilini, even six years after the end of the war, is a testament to the life that she lived and the spirit of leadership she demonstrated during the struggle,” the Chief Minister of the Northern Province, C. V. Wigneswaran said in a tributary statement.

“With an unrelenting thirst for her ideals, the courageous Thamilini's thoughts were all about the liberation of the Tamil people and the advancement of Tamil women.”

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe says the government's inquiry into abductions has found that the principle blame for the loss of civilian life during the last phase of the armed conflict laid with the LTTE.

The commission's report rejects the findings of the UN Panel of Expert's report, which said that 'a number of credible sources' have estimated that there could have been as many as 40,000 civilian deaths.

Mr Wickremesinghe tabled the Maxwell Paranagama Commission report and the Udalagama Commission report along with the UNHRC report on alleged human rights violations in Sri Lanka, in parliament on Tuesday.

Sections of the “Missing Person's Commission”, also known as the Paranagama Commission, seen by Channel 4, seemed to accept that crimes were perpetrated by the army.

Excerpts published by the British broadcaster appeared refreshingly honest about the allegations against the military, conceding that evidence of executions, previously contested by the government, were unlikely to be faked.

Former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa claimed there is no media freedom in Sri Lanka, under the current government.

Speaking to reporters following a hearing at a Presidential Commission of Inquiry examining corruption Mr Rajapaksa said “the media freedom that was there during my tenure is not there today”.