No funding for video conferencing- Chairman of COI

Chairman of the commission retired Justice Nissanka Udalagama told BBC Sandeshaya that the President Fund has informed the commission that it will not provide the money at present for video conferencing.

The presidential commission was appointed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to probe 15 serious rights violations including the killing of 17 aid workers in Muttur.

The commission receives funding from the Presidential Secretariat.

The mandate also includes probing the killings of five students in Trincomalee, Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar and Joseph Pararajasingham, MP.

Witness Protection

Responding to the question asked by BBC Sandeshaya, how commission is going to get evidence, the commissioner replied “we have to wait until the witness protection bill come into force.”

“May be the president might order us to carry the investigations if the bill is going to be delayed”.

We have to wait until the witness protection bill come into force Commissioner Udalagama

The commission was due to hear the evidence from the witnesses last week.

Commissioner Udalagama said that the president has informed the commission to delay the investigation.

"Therefore we could not proceed with the investigations as planned", he added.

The bodies of the Action Against Hunger workers were found in the north-eastern town of Muttur in August 2006.

It was one of the worst attacks on humanitarian workers since the 2003 bombing of the UN compound in Baghdad killing at least 17 people including the UN's chief envoy to Iraq.