‘We are still searching”
by International Truth & Justice Project, Sri Lanka, South Africa, July 13, 2026
ITJP CHEMMANI-MASS-GRAVE-WE-ARE-STILL-SEARCHING-JULY-2026
Executive Summary
‘We are still searching,’ is how the statements of the families typically end. It has been thirty years of waiting for a body to mourn, let alone justice.
Chemmani mass grave in the northern Jaffna Peninsula is just one of countless mass graves that dot the island.1 But it stands out for the sheer scale of the cover up
of crimes against humanity committed by the Sri Lankan military during the civil war.
It has been thirty years since it was first discovered but despite enormous publicity and two phases of excavation, one still in progress, no commander has yet been held criminally accountable for the crimes committed by the Sri Lankan Army over many decades in the Jaffna Peninsula connected to this grave. What is most astonishing is that the Army continued to use the site as a dumping ground for bodies even after an initial excavation. Nothing speaks to the level of impunity more
than this.
The mass grave first came to light after the rape and murder of schoolgirl Krishanthy Kumaraswamy in 1996. An irrigation worker informed the girl’s mother of her abduction, only to be later arrested himself by the Army and disappeared. For safe measure even the person who witnessed his arrest was also later disappeared. Meanwhile, Krishanthy’s mother, brother and a neighbour rushed to the area and were themselves murdered, stripped naked and buried in a shallow grave. These were not uncontrolled acts of violence, but hours of brutality, reinforced by systematic killing of the witnesses.
A murder and gang rape case was brought by Krishanthy’s sister, her only surviving sibling. In 1998, death sentences were given to four junior soldiers and a policeman, as well as a sixth accused who absconded from justice and has never been found. A Lance Corporal told the court up to 400 bodies had been illegally buried in the area – saying almost every evening corpses were delivered and soldiers disposed of them. There were attempts to silence him. He and his family were threatened by prison officials and feared for their lives. One evening he was beaten unconscious by a guard who wanted him to sign a letter recanting in return for a lighter sentence.
Procedural obstructions by the Government and military delayed the start of excavations at Chemmani. This led to concerns that flood water would damage the forensic evidence but inaction continued. A few inconclusive soil samples were collected from the wrong area, without the guidance of the convicted soldiers who had actually buried the corpses. The magistrate reprimanded the Army for interference, while the Attorney General’s office tried to prevent the convicted soldiers appearing in court in Jaffna on security grounds. Despite this, in 1999, 15 skeletons were excavated from multiple burial sites during the first phase of excavation, many with hands tied behind their backs and blindfolds indicating summary execution. In 2000, four higher ranking Army officers were arrested along with a police interpreter, but their case was transferred to the capital Colombo on the questionable grounds that the soldiers feared for their lives in Jaffna. Almost at once all the suspects were bailed. For a year no funds were made available to send forensic samples abroad, contravening the order of the magistrate.
Meanwhile soldiers named and accused in habeas corpus cases flatly denied all the facts and quibbled over the precise titles of Army camps. By 2004, lawyers for the respondents in these habeas corpus cases refused to appear on the grounds they hadn’t been properly briefed. In their absence, it was ironically the complainants who found themselves being challenged in court. Then the investigation stalled as the war intensified. Nevertheless, hundreds of families whose loved ones had disappeared continued to speak out and demand action. Their accounts were terrible. One man had been arrested by the Army even though he had a different name from the man they were seeking. It was a callous and random substitution. Another mother couldn’t find her son, then 158 days later, out of the blue, he whistled at her from a passing Army truck. It was the last time she saw him.
In 2025 building work unearthed jumbled human remains and soon the second phase of excavation at Chemmani began. By the end of the year, a total of 239 skeletons had been excavated and removed, while by the end of June 2026, the number of excavated skletons had risen to 409 in work that is due to continue. Original estimates stated that there might be as many as 600 bodies illegally dumped there. In the intervening decades the Army officers alleged to be in charge at the time of crimes against humanity have been promoted and protected.
On 19 June 2026, the current Minister of Justice and National Integration, Harshana Nanayakkara, visited Chemmani, where he made statements implying both that his government had no information on suspected perpetrators, and that this lack of information had prevented the start of any criminal enquiries. He also implied that the already protracted and hampered Chemmani excavations had to be completed before forensic and criminal investigations could begin. These positions are inconsistent with an extensive documentary and judicial record, accumulated over nearly three decades, and they risk perpetuating longstanding patterns of delay and obstruction, by successive administrations, when faced with efforts to secure truth and accountability for the crimes associated with Chemmani.