Bindunuwewa Massacre, Bandarawela

On October 25th 2000, twenty seven Tamil youth kept at the Bindunuwewa Detention Centre were slaughtered by a Sinhala mob of about a 1000 from the area, after a SLA detachment that had been posted there was mysteriously withdrawn the previous day.

The police personnel stood by, and some even abetted and participated in this atrocity. An additional 14 youth were injured. They were all LTTE surrendees or had been picked up on suspicion. None of them had been charged with any crime. Five of the accused, including two policemen, were charged with murder and given death sentences by the High Court but the Supreme Court acquitted all of them, on appeal.