Court Grants 8 Additional Weeks for Chemmani Mass Grave Excavations

16-Aug-2025

.

Since evidence suggests there may be more mass graves in the Chemmani mass grave site, the court has ordered arrangements for an additional eight weeks of excavation work, following a request made in court.

The case related to the Chemmani mass grave was taken up at the Jaffna Magistrate’s Court on August 14.

At that time, the court had granted 45 days for the second phase of excavation work. As of the 6th of this month, 32 days had been completed, after which the work was temporarily suspended. 

The third phase of work is to resume on the 22nd of this month, and cleaning will be done in the designated excavation areas on the 20th.

Since evidence suggests there may be more mass graves in Chemmani, the court was informed that an additional eight weeks would be needed beyond the current approved period. The court then ordered necessary preparations to be made for this.

By the 6th of this month, during the excavation work carried out in phases over 41 days, 133 complete skeletons had been excavated, and 147 skeletons had been identified.