Three doctors accused of helping Tamil rebels released on bail

Colombo - Three of five doctors accused of spreading Tamil rebel propaganda about civilian casualties during the army's final offensive against the separatists in May were released Monday on bail in Sri Lanka, court officials said.

The doctors were captured after they fled rebel-held areas in north-eastern Sri Lanka a few days before the army defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). They were interrogated and charged with spreading false information.
The physicians treated civilians during the last few months of the conflict and provided details of the offensive and war casualties.
They were a main source of information for journalists and were also quoted in reports by international organizations, including the United Nations and human rights groups, such as Amnesty International.
Soon after their capture, the medics said at a government-arranged press conference that they were forced to provide false information by the rebels. The doctors released on bail were identified as Kanapathipillai Shanmugaraja, Illancheliyan Vallavan and Thurairaja Varatharaja.
The security forces were questioning a large number of people, including government officials and civilians, about possible links with the LTTE, which had fought for 26 years for an independent homeland for Sri Lanka's Tamil ethnic minority.
According to UN figures, more than 7,500 civilians perished from January until May 18 when the conflict ended with the deaths of the top rebel leadership.

Vanni Doctors were brought before the press conference at MCNS

The five doctors who stayed in the conflict zone till the end of the war and subsequently arrested by Sri Lankan Criminal Investigation Division (CID) on an allegation of giving false civilian casuality figures to the media were brought before a press conference at the Media Centre for National Security Wednesday.

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