Personal data
Name
Thuraisamy Chinnammah
Date of birth
1952
Age
57
Place of birth
–
Biographical details
Thuraisamy Chinnammah was 57 years old at the time of her murder and lived in the Mullaitivu district. This area is under Tamil administration.
Indcident
Date
10.01.2009
Location
Puthukudiyiruppu, Mullaitivu
Description
Since September 2008, Sri Lankan Government banned access for all the independent monitors, humanitarian workers including UN and the media to the combat zone (Vanni) and systematically isolated the combat zone (Vanni) from the outside world and waged a genocidal war without any witness.
Thuraisamy Chinnammah (mother of a girl) is among the 20,000 identified cases who fell victim to the Sri Lankan armed forces. The shelling attack happened on 10 January at 10.10 pm in Ward-9 in Puthukudiyiruppu in Mullaithivu District. The Artillery fire killed Thuraisamy Chinnammah, her husband, daughter and nephew sleeping in one tarpaulin tent. The two young people sleeping in the tent had just sat their GCE OL examination.
The IDP camp made up of about eight families of around 30 people displaced from Chilawathai in November 2008 and some families including Thuraisamy Chinnammah’s family, who were killed, were staying in another area. Following the heavy floods in November they were settled the current location with assistance from The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
On the next Saturday morning, following the shelling massacre, the entire camp of people were in the process of moving yet again within a month of setting up their shelter there.
Legal situation (investigation/criminal proceedings)
No one was ever held accountable and there were no criminal proceedings in court. The Sri Lankan officers, who commanded it, and the responsible soldiers have not been convicted to this day.