The eleventh anniversary of the abduction and murder of Tamil journalist Dharmeratnam Sivaram popularly known as Taraki is marked on Friday (April 29).
Sivaram was abducted in front of Bambalipitiya police station in Colombo on April 28, 2005 and was found dead several hours later in a high security zone near the parliament of Sri Lanka.
The main occasion is scheduled to take place at ‘Muttraaveli’ where the monument of the late journalists in Jaffna.
A draw attention protest would be carried out in front of the Fort railway station in Colombo by press organizations.
Sivaram was the editor of TamilNet and contributed to a number of other publications throughout his career, including the Daily Mirror, the Sunday Times, the Island and the Virakesari, and was also closely involved with the Tamil Guardian.
His views and analysis on the Tamil national struggle and military strategy were in regular demand from the diplomatic community and NGOs, and his death was widely condemned, including by the LTTE, Reporters Sans Frontiers and the Committee to Protect Journalists. Several Sinhala journalists, many of whom had worked with Sivaram also paid tribute to his work. UNESCO’s director general called the murder a “shameful crime”, in a statement marking World Press Freedom Day.
