By Charles Haviland BBC News, Colombo

	Police deny bringing 'LTTE members' to the courts

They are said to have been arrested from displaced people’s camps after the government’s all-out war victory against the Tigers in May 2009.

In an extraordinary twist, the police spokesman flatly denied that anyone was brought to court.

Ever since 300,000 Tamils fled the war zone and were taken to government camps last year, there have been allegations that some from among them were taken away by security forces.

'Missing'

Some relatives of Tamil Tiger members say their family members were seen as the war ended but then went missing.

Now 160 young men have been brought before a Colombo courtroom, as was a smaller group several weeks ago.

They are described as “hard-core” former militants and are said to have been arrested from within the IDP camps and held until now by the Terrorist Investigation Department.

A magistrate ordered that they be remanded until 3rd January pending instructions from the attorney-general.

The names of the 160 were read out but they were not accompanied by a lawyer.

An attorney who has represented LTTE members in the past told the BBC that even though it had taken a year and a half for these ones to appear in court, the legal process now under way was to be welcomed.

Another lawyer said he thought they had been brought to court because it is possible that a UN panel on war crimes will soon visit the island to give evidence to a government-appointed war commission.

That commission has heard from some people who said their family members including ex-Tigers had disappeared.

The BBC was present in the courtroom.

Yet, in a bizarre development, Sri Lanka’s police spokesman, Prishantha Jayakody, told the BBC later that no one at all had been brought to court.

The Terrorist Investigation Department could not be reached for comment.