Karannagoda denies allegations

Parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran in a scathing remark in Parliament on Saturday questioned why the authorities have not investigated the underground secret cells at the Trincomalee Navy Camp. He demanded to know as to why the former Navy Commander Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda was not investigated over the secret camp.

He added that authorities must investigate as to whether people who were detained at the said camp were in fact tortured. The secret camp was put in the spotlight after the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances mentioned it in their report. It was reported that they were taken to the location by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) during their tour of the North and East. Meanwhile, Navy Chief Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda yesterday in an interview strongly rebutted accusations that there had been a secret detention facility within the Trincomalee naval base during the Eelam War IV. He said that during the war, renegade LTTE cadres had been accommodated at the Trinco facility, which some interested parties now wanted to portray as a torture chamber.

"We didn't operate torture chambers at the Trinco base or at any other command. There was no requirement to do so," Karannagoda said.