Description

A mob of people carrying swords led by a Buddhist monk, have detained a group of people
belonging to ethnic minorities including several priests, and three journalists for around 5
hours, while they were on a fact finding visit to find out information on alleged state-backed
land encroachments into Tamil lands in Mylathamadu area in Batticaloa district. The mob had
surrounded the vehicles which the group of people were travelling, and had threatened to burn
them. After a while the group had been taken to an open area, and held in captivity for around
5 hours in the presence of the officials from a local development authority.
Three freelance journalists - Selvakumar Nilanthan, Valasingham Krishnakumar, and Antony
Christopher Christiraj had been in the group. Since the journalist Nilanthan was quickly
identified as a journalist for wearing a press jacket, he had been forced to delete the photos
and videos he had recorded, and forced to sign two letters promising not to report on the
incident in the press. Though the group informed the Police over their phones, Police had not
arrived there until a Tamil MP had spoken on the incident at the Parliament. As the two other
journalists who were not previously recognized by the mob had then disclosed their identity to
the Police, the mob had requested the Police to order them to delete their footage, though
Police had not complied. According to the CPJ, Police had not yet started investigations by
30th of August 2023.