Speaking at the press conference the Doctors said that only 300 civilians were killed during the last leg of the war in Vanni, Northern Sri Lanka. They said they gave false information about casualties and food and medicine shortages due to pressure from the LTTE and now they are free.
Though it cannot be confirmed explicitly that the doctors were speaking to reporters on the pressure of the government authorities, this is what Tamils and human rights activist expected as the motive behind the detention of these doctors.
The five doctors, V. Shanmugarajah, Thurairaja Varatharajah, Thangamuttu Sathyamurthi, Sivapalan and Ilancheliyan Pallavan are in custody for nearly two months now, and no charges have been lodged against them.
The doctors were the main source of contact for the media and international organizations during the conflict. UN officials earlier said that the doctors were conservative with casualty figures, and John Holmes, the humanitarian Chief praised them for their heroic services to the suffering civilians inside the no fire zone.
'We regret that we provided false information,' Dr Illancheliyan Pallavan said at the press conference.
'The LTTE was fighting a useless war in which civilians suffered. It was heartbreaking to see those between 14 and 15 injured in the conflict,' Dr S Sivapalan said.
Dr Thurairaja Sathiyamoorthy said rebels seized Red Cross food shipments by land and sea, and forced the doctors to claim that there were food shortages.
According to UN estimates, over 7,000 civilians were killed from January to April, there after they said extremely high number of civilians died, but a French and British tabloids estimated the figure as more than 20,000. The Sri Lankan government continued to maintain that they rescued civilians without any civilian casualties.
File photos taken at the Mullivaikkal hospital in May
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