Sri Lankan court acquits Tamil doctor who supported the LTTE

A Sri Lankan court acquitted one of the five Tamil doctors who under rebel coercion provided inflated civilian casualty figures to media during the military offensive in the North.

The Colombo High Court acquitted Dr. Thangamuttu Sathyamoorthy who has been free on bail since August 2009.

Up until his acquittal he was to appear before the Vavuniya CID every last Sunday of the month.

Dr Sathyamoorthy was the regional director of the Kilinochchi district hospital until he fled with the LTTE to the no-fire zone in Mullaitivu. He is now the superintendent of Vavuniya hospital.

Security forces arrested the five doctors who allegedly gave overly exaggerated figures through satellite phones to Western news agencies during the LTTE occupation of the Wanni region when they were escaping the conflict zone in the final days of battle.

The doctors later recanted their claims during a media conference in July last year.

"The Criminal Investigation Department told the court that they would like to withdraw the charges against me. Following this, the case was dropped," Dr Sathyamoorthy has told the BBC.