Source files from one of digital cameras witnessing 2009 genocide released to public domain

A surviving staff reporter of the Eezha-naatham daily, one of the few media to directly witness the last phase of the genocidal war in Vanni, released this week a set of photos and video clips from one of the digital cameras used by an Eezham Tamil humanitarian worker during the final days of the onslaught in 2009. Apart from serving the purpose of documenting the genocide, the material would also be useful to the kith and kin of the victims who perished in the onslaught and to those who are searching for their loved ones, says Suren Karthikesu, the journalist who is exiled in Vancouver, Canada. TamilNet brings the material to the public domain with the warning that some of the photos would be too upsetting to the viewers. 

A photo from the released set capturing a moment of fear that prevailed during the intense shelling by the occupying military of genocidal Sri Lanka

A father and son perished at Mu'l'livaaykkaal

Eezhanaatham staff reporter, Suren, talking to injured civilians at at Puthu-maaththa'lan hospital on 31 March 2009

Suren taking notes from the victims in the aftermath of indiscriminate shelling by the advancing military of genocidal Sri Lanka on April 20 in front of Mu'l'livaaykkaal makeshift hospital.

Suren was injured on 25 April

The material, 577 photos and 19 videos, are being released as a compressed zip archive to be downloaded and viewed by the readers. 

>> Download ZIP archive (895 MB) <<

Suren Karthikesu has gained access to the photos as he has been helping some of the families of the victims to trace their loved ones by publishing the pictures in the social media. 

Suren, along with fellow Eezhanatham journalists, witnessed a cluster bomb attack on civilians on 20 February and 21 February 2009, at a locality between Ira'naip-paalai and Maaththa'lan Junction. 

Two months later, he also witnessed the SL military dropping hand grenades into the bunkers where the civilians, particularly the wounded people, had taken refuge at a between Maaththa'lan and Valaignar-madam. The date must be either 21st or 22nd of April, he says. 

Three days later, on 25 April, the reporter was injured in his chest while collecting news details at a former vaadi (fishing hut) along the coast between Iraddai-vaaykkaal and Valaignar-madam. The incident took place around 9:30 a.m. near Valaignar-madam church. 

The Eezha-naatham daily was published last on 09 May 2009.

The SL Navy and the SL Army launched a two pronged attack on Mu'l'livaaykkaal makeshift hospital which was functioning at Mu'l'livaaykkal GTMS school. The injured reporter is seen in one of the photos from the archive (DSC05013). 

Eezhanaatham reporter Suren at injured state inside a bunker at Mu'l'livaaykkaal on 12 May, 2009

The photos and the video clips depict the nature of the bunkers and the makeshift hospitals in the last three months of the genocidal war. 

Thoroughly burnt corpses and vehicles are also seen from the photos from the final days. 

Although some of the photos in the collection have been published earlier by online media, most of them were rendered in low-resolution. The images being released now are in original resolution.