No censorship on media covering public sessions in North, Sri Lanka's Reconciliation Commission says

Sri Lanka's Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) said today that their public sessions in the North being held in Kilinochchi today and tomorrow are open to any media organization and there is no media censorship over the proceedings.

The Commission made this statement in response to some media reports alleging that they were barred from covering the public sessions of the LLRC in the former LTTE stronghold.

The LLRC Coordinating Secretary G.A. Gunawardena has told the local media that all facilities have been made available to all media personnel who wished to cover the proceedings in Kilinochchi.

The BBC alleged today that it has been blocked from covering the sessions quoting a senior defence ministry official as saying that he could not allow the BBC to attend this weekend's sittings.

The military liaison officer declined to give any reasons, the BBC said.

According to Ada Derana, Director General of the Media Centre for National Security (MCNS) Lakshman Hulugalle also has confirmed that there was no censorship imposed on the media and that any media could cover the proceedings.

The BBC said in August when LLRC held public sessions in Vavuniya, its reporters attended panel hearings in an unrestricted part of the North but were not allowed to attend its meetings in camps with refugees and suspected former rebels.