Sri Lanka mass grave excavation in Chemmani to resume under diplomatic presence

A Sri Lankan court has ordered the recommencement of excavation work on a mass grave in Chemmani, on the outskirts of Jaffna, which first came into focus during the LTTE conflict in the 1990s, seven months after it was halted. The excavation work in Chemmani in the Northern Province came to a halt in September last year due to the pending new allocation of funds by the Ministry of Justice. The Jaffna magistrate's court was told on Tuesday that LKR 2.1 million allocation has been made available so that work can be resumed. The court granted permission for diplomatic representatives from the EU, France, Germany, Italy and Romania to be present for observations at the excavation site. When the second stage of work was halted after 45 days, 240 skeletal remains had been excavated. Apart from the skeletons, 14 piles of bones and items such as feeding bottles for infants, a doll, toys and children's bags and shoes were dug out. The work was to be carried out over eight more weeks as per the report submitted by the judicial medical officer of Jaffna to the Jaffna magistrate dated August 14. During routine development work in Chemmani on February 13, 2025, skeletal remains had been discovered. The court a week later ordered a judicial examination of them. On May 15, the excavations began under judicial supervision. Chemmani came under focus in 1998 at the height of the conflict between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and government troops for an alleged mass grave. Some 15 skeletons were discovered then. The three-decade-long armed conflict started in 1983 and was ended by the island nation's military by killing the leaders of the LTTE in 2009. The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka in September said there exists a ''reasonable likelihood'' that the burials at the Chemmani mass grave in the north were ''unlawful'' and had been caused as a ''result of extrajudicial killings''.

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