Bullet used in ACF killing removed from evidence?

A bullet being used in an investigation into the killings of 17 aid workers last August may have been removed from evidence, an international legal watchdog said yesterday.

The International Commission of Jurists said its observer on the probe, senior British lawyer Michael Birnbaum, found signs that a 5.56 calibre bullet was removed and substituted with another type in evidence submitted to local magistrates.

Bullets of 5.56 calibre are used in M-16 rifles, the same type of weapon used by some Sri Lankan special forces, the non-governmental organisation added in a statement.

Seventeen local employees of the French charity Action Contre La Faim (Action Against Hunger) were found shot dead in the charity's offices in the northeastern coastal town of Muttur in August 2006.

The murders still have to be solved. Nordic truce monitors have blamed the Muttur killings on government forces, but the government has denied any role in the massacre.

“Given this new information, the ICJ is calling for the President of Sri Lanka to order renewed, impartial and thorough investigations ... and to ensure those responsible are prosecuted,” the statement said.

Mr. Birnbaum had already raised concerns about the ballistics evidence in his main report in April.

In an additional report this month, “he raises serious concerns about evidence that a bullet has been removed from the evidence submitted on March 7 by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) as exhibits to the Kantale Magistrates Court in charge of the inquest,” the ICJ said.

Birnbaum's finding revolves around the report of an Australian pathologist, Malcolm Dodd, who reported that eight bullets -- including one 5.56 calibre -- were recovered from seven bodies during a post mortem examination in October 2006.

However, a government analyst later concluded that all of the bullets appeared to be of 7.62 calibre, according to Mr. Birnbaum.

“There is therefore evidence to indicate that the 5.56 calibre bullet was removed from the evidence submitted as exhibits to the Kantale Magistrate, and that another bullet of a different type was substituted,” the ICJ added.

(http://www.dailymirror.lk/2007/06/26/front/05.asp)