-By Sanjaya Dasanayake
(Lanka-e-News -10.March.2025, 11.00 PM)
Incident took place on the November 24, 2013 – Location: Matale Hospital Grounds
On November 24, 2013, a group of workers digging the foundation for a new Intensive Care Unit behind the kitchen of the Matale Hospital made a shocking discovery. While using a backhoe to dig approximately 1.5 meters into the ground, they uncovered a human skull mixed with soil along with multiple human bones.
As soon as the bones were found, the workers informed the hospital authorities, who then reported the discovery to the Matale police. The police, in turn, notified the Matale Magistrate and Additional District Judge Chathurika De Silva. After an initial inspection, the judge ordered the police to investigate further to determine whether more human remains were present.
Following the Magistrate’s order, an excavation was conducted under the supervision of Matale Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) Dr. Ajith Jayasena. By February 12, 2013, within three months, the excavation led to the discovery of skeletal remains belonging to 154 individuals. This became the largest mass grave ever found in Sri Lanka.
Four years after the end of Sri Lanka’s three-decade-long civil war, the discovery of at least 154 human skeletons in the central highlands raised serious concerns. Dr. Ajith Jayasena officially reported to the Matale Magistrate’s Court that these human remains had been unearthed.
Dr. Jayasena subjected the 154 skeletal remains to a detailed forensic examination. His findings suggested that some of the victims had been subjected to brutal torture before death.
"Some bones showed evidence of nails being hammered into them before death. A metal wire was found embedded in the bone of a foot. Several skulls were discovered without their corresponding skeletons, indicating decapitation," he reported. Dr. Jayasena further stated that firearms and blunt force weapons were likely used to kill the victims, confirming that this was a site of mass murder.
To determine the identities of the victims and the time period they belonged to, Dr. Jayasena sought the expertise of Professor Raj Somadeva from the Department of Archaeology at the University of Kelaniya. With the court’s permission, Professor Somadeva officially joined the excavation and forensic analysis.
Professor Raj Somadeva is a senior professor at Kelaniya University and Sri Lanka’s leading forensic archaeologist. Forensic archaeologists specialize in uncovering, retrieving, and interpreting underground evidence and remains using advanced field techniques and scientific methods. These include geophysical surveys, remote sensing, and excavation.
Professor Somadeva’s forensic analysis followed specific principles:
There should be corresponding medical records for the mass grave remains.
The skeletal remains should be undisturbed to ensure no post-depositional alterations.
Any deviation from normal burial practices should be documented as evidence of improper disposal.
If a pandemic had caused the deaths, visible biochemical changes should be present on the bones.
Skeletal remains and associated artifacts should be preserved enough to provide contextual information.
Professor Somadeva submitted a 60-page report to the court, detailing the 154 skeletons and his observations.
"The mass grave, covering 97.75 square meters, contained some bodies laid in rows, while others were piled haphazardly. The burial manner was inconsistent with any Sri Lankan cultural funeral practice," he noted. His analysis revealed evidence of severe torture, including:
Beheadings
Amputations of limbs
Skull incisions made with sharp weapons
Fingernails being forcibly removed with nails driven into fingers
One skeleton had a metal noose around its left foot, which Professor Somadeva identified as a tool used for hanging executions.
"One skull was completely detached from its skeleton. Another skull had its mouth open, suggesting that the person was in severe pain at the time of death," his report highlighted. This observation helped forensic experts estimate the time between death and burial.
Of the 154 skeletons, 38 were piled without any order, reinforcing suspicions that they were dumped rather than properly buried. The undisturbed nature of many skeletal remains also helped researchers reconstruct the positions in which the bodies were disposed of.
To establish the period to which these remains belonged, Professor Somadeva and Dr. Jayasena recommended using Radiocarbon Bomb-Pulse Dating (RBM).
Besides the skeletal remains, several key artifacts were found within the grave, helping narrow down the timeline:
A plastic button from women’s clothing – identified as a 6L672 series cellulose ivoryoid plastic button, manufactured in China and popular in Sri Lanka in the 1980s.
A ring, metal nails, iron wires (possibly for strangulation), a hospital bedpan, and a plastic bandage roll label dating to 1986.
A red glass bottle manufactured by the British company ‘Denby’ in early 1988. Production of this specific bottle type ceased in 1989. These bottles were typically used for medicinal or chemical storage.
Dr. Ajith Jayasena and Professor Raj Somadeva presented their forensic and archaeological reports to the Matale Magistrate. Based on the scientific evidence, Magistrate Chathurika De Silva ruled that:
The Matale site was a crime scene where mass murder had occurred.
The time of the killings was determined using material evidence.
The forensic evidence indicated that these individuals were likely executed between 1986 and 1990.
To further verify this timeframe, samples of the skeletal remains should be sent abroad for radiocarbon dating.
The Magistrate ordered the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to conduct a thorough probe and send bone samples overseas for analysis.
Despite the clear forensic and archaeological findings, the CID ignored the court’s directives and failed to proceed with the investigation. Shortly after the ruling, Magistrate Chathurika De Silva was suddenly transferred, raising suspicions of political interference to suppress the case.
As reports about mass graves in Matale surfaced, unofficial rumors began to spread regarding those responsible. These rumors suggested that the graves were linked to the suppression of the JVP insurgency in the Matale district during the terror period of 1988–1989. It was widely speculated that Gotabaya Rajapaksa, then a Major in the Gajaba Regiment of the Sri Lanka Army and the coordinating officer for the JVP crackdown in Matale, was responsible.
The main reason behind these rumors gaining traction was the book GOTA’S WAR by C.A. Chandraprema, a journalist associated with the Divaina newspaper, which was considered sympathetic to Ranil Wickremesinghe. This book, published in 2012—just a year before the discovery of the mass graves—detailed Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s role in the JVP suppression, particularly in Chapter 28, which covered the second JVP uprising.
According to GOTA’S WAR:
"On May 1, 1989, Gotabaya Rajapaksa was promoted as the commanding officer of the First Battalion of the Gajaba Regiment. With this promotion, he was assigned as the district coordinating officer in Matale for JVP suppression. The First Gajaba Battalion, which had been stationed in Trincomalee for nearly one and a half years, was then deployed to Matale. Among his company commanders in Matale were lieutenants Shavendra Silva, Jagath Dias, and Sumedha Perera."
Gotabaya Rajapaksa remained in this role until January 1990, when he took three months of leave and traveled to the United States to visit his family.
Following the publication of GOTA’S WAR, both local and international media quickly reported that the mass graves in Matale were linked to Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the First Gajaba Regiment. In response, then-President Mahinda Rajapaksa immediately contacted his political ally, Ranil Wickremesinghe, expressing concerns that these reports could create problems for both his brother and Wickremesinghe. Mahinda then sought Ranil’s advice on how to handle the situation.
In a strategic move, Ranil Wickremesinghe advised Mahinda Rajapaksa to swiftly appoint a three-member committee to investigate the Matale mass graves. Ranil proposed appointing retired Supreme Court Justice S.I. Imam, someone close to him, as the head of the commission. The other two members, selected by Mahinda Rajapaksa, were former Parliamentary Secretary-General Dhammika Kitulgoda and retired High Court Judge Bandula Athapattu.
Justice S.I. Imam was later appointed by Ranil Wickremesinghe to head another commission investigating the Channel 4 documentary on the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks. He had also previously been appointed by the Sri Lanka Cricket Interim Committee under Arjuna Ranatunga during the "Good Governance" period.
Justice Imam was known to operate commissions in a manner that served Wickremesinghe’s interests. Thus, along with the two other Mahinda-aligned commission members, he initiated efforts to cover up the Matale mass graves case.
When the commission visited Matale, they recorded testimonies from 67 witnesses. Among them, 47 had previously provided sworn statements to the Matale Magistrate’s Court, stating that the remains found in the mass graves could belong to their relatives who disappeared during the 1988-89 JVP uprising. The remaining 20 witnesses were either retired or active government officials.
The only eyewitness testimony came from a single individual, M.G. Punchibanda Herath, who stated that he had seen mass graves at the same location in 1971. He claimed that these burials were linked to the brutal suppression of the 1971 JVP insurrection.
The commission ultimately concluded that no one had seen such a large-scale mass grave during the 1988-89 period and that an operation of that magnitude could not have been conducted in a short period. The commission further argued that since the hospital premises were located in the heart of Matale town, it would have been difficult to carry out such an operation unnoticed.
Two retired hospital employees, W.G. Hennapppu and L.B. Herath, testified that they had no knowledge of a mass grave being created. A.S.M. Washeer, who had served as the Grama Niladhari (village officer) for the area, also stated that he was unaware of any such activity. The district medical officer at the time, Dr. H. Kusumpala, similarly denied knowledge of any such incident.
When news of the Matale mass graves broke, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, then Secretary of Defense, reportedly ordered the destruction of all police records and reports over five years old in police stations across Matale and the Central Province.
Under a court order issued by Matale Magistrate Sampath Gamage, human remains from the mass graves were sent to Beta Analytic Inc. in Miami, Florida, for radiocarbon dating using the Bomb-Pulse Method (RBM). However, reports suggested that the skeletal remains were transported by a police officer loyal to the Rajapaksa family. Allegedly, instead of sending samples from the Matale mass graves, remains from older burial sites were deliberately sent for testing.
Dr. Douglas Ubelaker, a forensic anthropologist from the U.S. Department of Justice, was consulted to interpret the radiocarbon dating results. His analysis concluded that the remains sent for testing did not belong to the 1988-89 period but were instead from the 1950s.
Based on the radiocarbon analysis, the Imam Commission concluded that the skeletal remains unearthed from the Matale mass graves had no connection to the disappearances of 1989-1990. Instead, they were determined to belong to individuals who had died before the 1950s.
However, the commission did acknowledge that the victims had suffered severe torture before their deaths, suggesting that they were likely the victims of a gruesome massacre. Despite this, the commission stated that it was unable to identify either the victims or the perpetrators.
Prof. Raj Somadeva, an archaeologist who had initially recommended sending the bones to Florida for testing, later expressed skepticism about the commission's findings. He claimed that the commission had deliberately tried to discredit scientifically backed discoveries.
Somadeva stated that although he recommended sending the remains to the U.S., no one had consulted him about which samples should be sent. He speculated that the samples sent for radiocarbon testing might not have been the same ones unearthed during excavations, which is why he refused to accept the commission’s report.
He also noted that since the burial site had been flooded twice, the samples could have been contaminated, raising doubts about the accuracy of the radiocarbon dating results. According to Somadeva, international standards now favor archaeological dating methods over radiocarbon dating for determining the age of remains.
Judicial Medical Officer Dr. Ajith Jayasena stated that he could not accept the commission's criticism regarding expert opinions. He mentioned that from the beginning, they were aware that the commission would be biased and that its purpose was to exonerate the highest-ranking accused individual. He also emphasized that he conducted investigations despite harassment and various difficulties imposed by authorities.
During the investigation, he determined that there were skeletal remains of more than 150 individuals who had been decapitated and had their limbs severed, with iron nails forcibly inserted into their bodies. While fulfilling his professional duties, his conscience compelled him to seek justice for these victims, who had suffered a brutal crime, he stated.
Former Central Provincial Council Member of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Gamagedara Disanayake, accused the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of not even publishing a notice in local newspapers as per the court's order. "It is only due to the awareness we create through our movement that people are coming forward, claiming that their loved ones have disappeared," he said.
JVP MP Anura Disanayake told AFP News Agency that, based on the dates revealed by forensic investigations of the mass graves, these bodies could be from the late 1980s. He emphasized the need for a thorough investigation to bring the perpetrators to justice. "At that time, state military forces and paramilitary groups carried out large-scale massacres against the JVP. That is why we are demanding that the government conduct a full investigation," Anura Disanayake stated.
Based on the excavated findings from the Matale mass graves, it is confirmed that these were crimes committed by the military and paramilitary forces during the 1988-89 period, suppressing the JVP. It is no secret that Ranil, Mahinda, and Gotabaya used the CID to cover this up. However, the skeletal remains from the Matale mass graves still exist. The NPP government, which promised justice for the victims and punishment for the perpetrators, will have its actions determined by time.
For Professor Somadeva’s report, click here:
Matale Forensic Archaeology Report by Raj Somadeva
-By Snajaya Dasanayake - English Translate By A Staff Writer
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by (2025-03-10 18:52:30)
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