Investigations into the exhumed skeletons from the Kokkuthoduvai mass grave in the war-affected Wanni region to find out their gender and age will commence in the third week of December 2023, officials have informed the Mullaitivu court.
The mass grave close to Kokkuthoduvai, Maha Vidyalayam was found accidentally in June this year when pipelines were being laid for water supply on the Kokkuththoduvai-Kokkilai main road. The ongoing case about this find and subsequent excavation came up for hearing on the 14th of December at the Mullaitivu Magistrate’s court and a discussion was held in the court premises.
Lawyer representing the families of those who went missing during the war or surrendered to the Sri Lankan security forces at the end of the war V.K.Niranjan briefed journalists about the dates informed by the Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) of Mullaitivu Kanagasabapaty Vasudeva to the court.
“JMO Vadsudeva informed the court the investigations into identifying the gender and the age of the already exhumed 40 human skeletons will be done on the 21st and 22nd of December in Jaffna”.
The first stage of excavation under the supervision of Forensic Expert Vasudeva was suspended on the 29th of June by the court after ground-penetrating radar (GPR) found the huge mass grave extending along the Kokkilaai-Mullaitivu main road.
Lawyer V.K. Niranjan also told the media a discussion over funds for the excavation was also held in the court on Thursday (14).
“Discussions took place about the excavation to commence in March 2024. The budget required for the next phase of exhumation including digging the road and relaying it by the Road development department was discussed”.
The accountant of the Mullaitivu secretariat and the officials of the Road Development Authority (RDA) were present during the discussion.
During the discussion held on the 29th of November at the Mullaitivu court, it was decided that the excavation be restarted from the first of March in 2024.
Mullaitivu Magistrate Dharmalingam Pradeepan scheduled the next hearing to the 22nd of February, the lawyer further said.
When the excavations were suspended on 29 November at least 40 complete human skeletons have been recovered.
The exhumed remains are suspected to be that of LTTE female cadres. Certain evidence recovered seem to confirm that.
An interim report to the court on the excavations so far will be presented in the court on the 31st of December, forensic archaeologist Prof. Raj Somadeva had said earlier.
“Now we have excavated an area of 3 meters in breadth and 14 meters in length. When we came here the mass grave was quite long and wide. So after removing 40 skeletons, we have to dig at least another 3X2 square meters with a depth of 1.5 meters to take out the remaining skeletons. For that, we estimate 6.63 cubic meters of sand needs to be removed”
When the mass grave was initially found on the 29th of June while laying water pipelines human body parts and bits of clothing, in particular what appeared to be women’s undergarments were found. During subsequent digging identity number plates of LTTE cadres, dog tags, a mini water filter, a watch, and a marker pen along with other artefacts were recovered. They are held under the custody of court, according to Prof Somadeva.
