Muttur killings: Australian expert upholds Lankan expert's verdict

Manjula Fernando

COLOMBO: The Australian forensic expert who assisted in the investigation into the 17 aid workers' killing in Muttur has upheld the Sri Lankan ballistics expert's conclusion.

He has admitted that the bullets used for the killing were of the same calibre (7.62) and that he made a wrong conclusion in challenging the report of the Sri Lankan ballistics expert.

His conclusions led to issuing a controversial statement by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) suggesting there had been a tampering of evidence in the killings case, putting the State in a difficult situation.

"We appreciate the honestly of Dr. Dodd in admitting that he has made a mistake," Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe told reporters yesterday adding that they hope this will help clear the bad name.

Australian Forensic Pathologist Dr. M.J.Dodd, in his supplementary report, received by the Government yesterday, said he acknowledged the bullets in issue were that of 7.62 calibre and not of 5.56 as previously concluded by him.

Hosting a press conference at the Disaster Management Ministry, Minister Samarasinghe said Sri Lanka stood by the report of the local Ballistics expert and requested the Australian expert to review his conclusion.

"We are committed to finding the truth and bring the culprits to book," the Minister stressed. Deputy Solicitor General Yasantha Kodagoda explaining the grounds on which the final conclusion was made said the Australian pathologist accepted the finding of our ballistics expert that the small projectile on issue was actually the core of a standard bullet (7.62).

The Government has appointed an eight member Commission of Inquiry to investigate 16 major human rights cases and the Muttur aid workers case is on top of the list.

An International Independent Group of Eminent persons (IIGEP) is overseeing the work of the CoI to report if they comply to minimum International standards.

The Minister said now that the matters have been cleared they expected the ICJ to retract the damage caused in questioning the credibility of the State judiciary.

In his supplementary report Dr. Dodd has refuted the suggestion on the ICJ's Michael Birnbaum report that there were suspicions of evidence tampering.

Foreign Secretary Dr. Palitha Kohona said there was a concerted campaign by the LTTE to tarnish Sri Lanka's image and the ICJ report unintentionally or otherwise, helped this cause.

The 17 aid workers of the French NGO, Action Against Hunger, were killed inside their office by unknown assassins during the Muttur attack in August 2006.

The bodies handed over to their relatives after an initial postmortem in Anuradhapura were exhumed in October and a second postmortem was performed in Colombo before the Australian experts who were invited by the Government to assist in the investigations to ascertain the identity of the killers.

The Sri Lankan Ballistics expert who examined the bullets extracted from the bodies of the aid workers said they were all of 7.62 calibre that is commonly used in many T-56 and other weapons.

The Australian expert who was a forensic pathologist however concluded the projectiles from one aid worker Raman, was that of 5.56 calibre.

Based on the Australian expert's comments the ICJ issued a statement saying the contradictions suggest a tampering of the exhibits, sparking worldwide criticism on Sri Lanka's credibility in probing the case. The report was issued coinciding the international Human Rights Commission meeting in Geneva.