How did Prabhakaran die?:

He was killed by the Army - Fonseka

By Manjula Fernando

Earlier last week Karuna Amman alias Vinayagamoorthy Muralithran, a one-time, trusted bodyguard of LTTE leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran and LTTE Eastern Commander turned politician, in an interview with India’s Puthiya Thalaimurai TV, stirred a hornets nest, when he claimed Prabhakran was not killed by the Sri Lankan military as claimed but shot himself with his pistol, His claims were however rejected outright by former Army Commander, Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka who claimed Karuna Amman who was a virtual prisoner in his own home for his safety till the end of the war, had little or no knowledge of the outside world or about the death of Prabhakaran.

Q: Karuna Amman has claimed that Vellupillai Prabhakaran was not killed by Government forces but that he had committed suicide by shooting himself. Your comments?

A: Karuna Amman is now trying to win the sympathy of the Tamils. If you read between the lines, this is clear. He's saying he never let the LTTE down or was part of the operations carried out against the LTTE.

Karuna Amman was kept under tight security in a safe house in Colombo. He had no access to the outside world or even to a telephone conversation, so he was not aware of what was happening in the battlefield.

Q: He did not give any information?

A: Karuna Amman had no useful information to give. He said Prabhakaran's youngest son surrendered and Prabhakaran killed himself. His son never surrendered. The Army did not arrest him. We had no information about his youngest son, later we saw his body with gunshot injuries.We don't know how and where it happened.

KP had said Prabhakaran's wife and daughter were killed due to Army shelling. His daughter was a frontline fighter, she was a Lt. Col in the women's cadre. His wife was also involved in managing supplies to the frontline. She was not a housewife. She was operating in the forward lines. They may have been killed in the forward lines. That's possible. Karuna would have picked up the information from what KP had said.

Q: Why do you say Prabhakaran did not commit suicide?

A: He had a head injury. A part of the frontal area of his skull seemed to have been blown off. This could not have happened if he killed himself with a pistol, if so there will be a small hole at the entrance and a slightly bigger hole on the other side.

If a rifle or a bigger gun was used, you have to point it under your chin, since it is long. The lost part of the skull is consistent with the injury caused by a larger weapon. We thought it might be a mortar splinter or an artillery shrapnel.

During the last stages of the war, he was fighting in the mangrove areas, north of Nanthikadaal lagoon. Prabhakaran was there with about 35 people. At that stage, we were also getting a lot of casualties, to avoid casualties we had to use mortar and artillery fire.

Q: There had been a gap between the time of his death and the recovery of his body?

A: The final battle started on May 17 around 2.30 am. It continued in three different places. Heavy fighting was going on in two places where LTTE cadres tried to break free from our defence lines, possibly to move into the jungle.

The military cleared one place by 10.30am on May 18 and the other by around 1.30 pm on the same day.

In the marshy area there were small pockets of LTTE cadres, resisting. This fighting went on through May 18 night into May 19 morning. Former president, Mahinda Rajapaksa was quick to celebrate the victory and cut cake at Temple Trees on May 18. He addressed Parliament on May 19 morning but even at that time soldiers were fighting. We had liberated the land but fighting was going on.

Q: Prabhakaran was killed by then?

A: I got the call saying his body has been found around 11.00 a.., when I was returning from Parliament. The fighting was over around 10.30a.m. that morning. It was a large marshy area with mangroves and the recovery of bodies of other terrorists took a long time.

Q: But there are claims that Prabhakaran was brought to Colombo and he was tortured?

A: That is all nonsense. If we brought him to Colombo he would have been alive and Mahinda Rajapaksa would have made him a chief minister in two weeks.

Q: What happened to Prabhakaran's body?

A: It went through the due procedure. The police came and put everything on record and a DNA test was performed. His elder son's body was also recovered among the dead cadres. In addition Karuna was flown to the location. He immediately identified the body. After that we had to dispose the body. There was no one to claim the body at the time.

Q: Was it buried or cremated?

A: It was cremated.

Q: Is there a way to know for sure that he did not commit suicide?

A:Yes. When the fighting stopped, within half an hour, when we were doing the final mopping up, we recovered a large number of bodies, he was one of them. We could say that he did not commit suicide by the nature of the wounds. You don't slash part of your head off if you want to commit suicide.

Q: Was there a postmortem conducted on his body ?

A:There was no need. In the battlefront they handle deaths differently. The police came, recorded statements and disposed the body.

Q: Karuna Amman said his defection had a lot to do with the Military defeating the LTTE. Your comments?

A: This is how it happened. Prabhakaran found fault with him for some financial dealings. Later he was asked to report to Mullaitivu by Prabhakaran. He knew what it meant, so he did not go. Instead he defected from the LTTE. When he left he had only a few cadres with him. Pillayan and about 200 cadres, some of them small children came with him.

They wanted to occupy a small jungle patch in Sungalwil area, close to Somawathie, that was behind our bunker lines. We had no objection. Karuna was hiding in Colombo. Some of his cadres were killed by the LTTE in a safe house in Colombo. All this happened before I became the Commander of the Army. We had undertaken to give him security upon his request. He was in a safe house in Colombo when I took over.

Q: He did not divulge any information?

A: He did not give any information. In fact he met me a couple of times in my office. The type of information which we expected of him were Prabhakaran's hideout, the exact locations of the heavy guns and things like that. But he never came out with any of that. After we captured Puthukudiyirippu, only we found where Prabhakaran was hiding.

Q: If Prabhakaran actually committed suicide, will it not lessen the Geneva burden?

A: It doesn't make any difference. He was killed in the battlefield, no one can blame us for killing Prabhakaran in a shootout. It was a difficult place, a swamp. They used heavy weapons such as machine guns. It was not like trying to catch a burglar in Colombo.

Q: Do you think the LTTE can re-emerge in Sri Lanka?

A: I don't think so. If the Sri Lankan government does not handle related issues such as reconciliation properly, there could be terrorist movements not just in the North but in the South also. We had two violent insurgencies in the South.

But the organisation which was there at the time, is no more. We must acknowledge that there are certain issues which have not been resolved, such as KPs issue. He is still at large and no legal action has been taken against him.

Q: But the Attorney General has said that there is no evidence to prosecute KP?

A:The AG is responsible to maintain law and order. The caretakers of good governance must do their job sincerely.

I think the AG is being treacherous to the country. There should be action taken against him if he says KP is not a terrorist.

I can have a debate with him anywhere on this matter. There are pictures of KP in LTTE uniform. Even a junior soldier in the Army knows that KP collected funds overseas and facilitated the purchase and transport of arms and ammunition to the LTTE here.

There is enough evidence, I have presided over intelligence briefings regarding KP. He is one of the most wanted terrorists.

Q: What could be the reasons behind the AG's statement?

A: The former Rajapaksa regime who safeguarded KP, had deals with him. He owned a couple of ships and had at his disposal huge amounts of LTTE money. No one knows what happened to that money. We suspect that the people at the helm of the former regime may have played out this money.

The AG might be trying to cover it up because he was appointed by the former regime. He was a puppet under them and maybe he is still being instructed by them.

Q: A domestic mechanism of accountability to probe allegations of war crimes has been proposed. Your comments?

A: It is a good thing. The Government should have done it before anyone made a request for it without waiting for the UN or a foreign country to recommend it.

Q: You mean there could have been breaches of the law in the battlefield?

A: No I am not saying there could have been breaches. What I am saying is that if there are allegations, then an impartial investigation must be conducted and if there is credible evidence, then those who have committed violations should be taken to task.