TAMIL CENTRE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS - TCHR/CTDH
CENTRE TAMOUL POUR LES DROITS DE L'HOMME
(Established in 1990)
(UN accredited NGO to the World Summit on Information Society)
08 January 2006 – On Saturday, a meeting took place in Paris at Jeanne d'arc hall, to condemn the brutal killing of Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham.
The meeting was organised by the Tamil Centre for Human Rights along with the Eelamurasu (newspaper), the Federation of Tamil Associations and the Tamil Business community in France.
As the event commenced, a photograph of Mr Pararajasingham was garlanded by Vanni district Member of Parliament Mr. Kanagaratnam and the traditional oil lamp was lit by French Human Rights Lawyer Mr. Gill Picqua and Mr. Maitha. A minute silence was then observed.
Mr. Prem of Eelamurasu presided over the event. Speakers at this event were Mr. Vincent Brusel of RSF, Mr. S. V. Kirubaharan of Tamil Centre for Human Rights, Mr. Maitha, Mr. Anthony Russel, Member of Municipality of Lacourneau, Mr. Gill Picqua and many others.
All the speakers strongly condemned the killing of Mr. Pararajasingham and accused the government of Sri Lanka, adding that President Mahinda Rajapaksa should take the responsibility for this brutal killing, carried out in a religious place of worship.
The speakers also said that even though Mr. Pararajasingham was fully aware of the dangers that he faced, he never backed down from standing up for truth and justice.
During the event, those present signed an appeal, to be sent to all the Special Rapporteurs of the United Nations and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Kofi Annan.
The petition called on the UN Secretary General and the Special Rapporteurs to urge the government of Sri Lanka to hold an immediate independent inquiry into the brutal killing of Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham who was killed while he was taking part in the midnight Christmas Eve mass in his home town Batticaloa. The petition stated that the Sri Lankan government and the President have a direct hand in this cold blooded killing.
Prayer meeting in Bondy
Also, in the suburbs of Paris, in Bondy, a memorial event took place for assassinated Joseph Pararajasingham, on Sunday 8 January at a Church – l'Eglise du Christ Ressuscite.
The event was attended by about 300 people from several different ethnic groups, including African, Afro Caribbean, Arab, Asian and European. A prayer meeting started the event in which people offered up their prayers for Joseph Pararajasingham - expressing their anguish over this killing on the sacred ground of a holy place of worship.
Soon after the prayer meeting was over, there was a meeting in which several speakers condemned the killing.
HEAD OFFICE:
Tamil Centre for Human Rights - TCHR/CTDH
9, rue des Peupliers - 95140 Garge les Gonesse - FRANCE
Contact person : S. V. Kirubaharan – General Secretary
Tel/Fax: + 33 1 42 67 54 36 - Email: tchrgs@hotmail.com / tchgs@tchr.net