Ida Carmelitta or Farheen Ida Carmelitta Laila Figerardo was a minority

Sri Lankan Tamil Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, live in significant numbers in the Eastern Pr ...

woman who was

gang raped Gang rape, also called serial gang rape, group rape, or multiple perpetrator rape in scholarly literature,Ullman, S. E. (2013). 11 Multiple perpetrator rape victimization. Handbook on the Study of Multiple Perpetrator Rape: A Multidisciplinary Re ...

and killed on 12 July 1999 and became a

cause célèbre A cause célèbre (,''Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged'', 12th Edition, 2014. S.v. "cause célèbre". Retrieved November 30, 2018 from https://www.thefreedictionary.com/cause+c%c3%a9l%c3%a8bre ,''Random House Kernerman Webs ...

of the Sri Lankan civil war.

Incident

According to her mother ''Anthoniya Figerardo'', Ida Carmelita at the age of sixteen (16) was coerced into joining the rebel

LTTE The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...

group as a

child soldier Children (defined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child as people under the age of 18) have been recruited for participation in military operations and campaigns throughout history and in many cultures. Children in the military, includ ...

for three years. She eventually left the rebel group. She had surrendered to the Sri Lankan police about a month before her murder. On the night of July 12, 1999 five men broke into her mother's house, and, after tying up the occupants, proceeded to gang rape and kill her. The incident happened in the town of Pallimunai, in the

Mannar Mannar may refer to the following places: India * Mannar, Alappuzha, a town in Chengannur Taluk, Kerala Sri Lanka * Mannar District, one of 25 districts in Sri Lanka ** Mannar Island, an island within the district **Mannar Bridge, a bridge connect ...

district. In his report, the

coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into Manner of death, the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...

in Mannar documented evidence of rape and sexual violence, including bites on her breasts and lips. She had been shot through her

vagina In mammals, the vagina is the elastic, muscular part of the female genital tract. In humans, it extends from the vestibule to the cervix. The outer vaginal opening is normally partly covered by a thin layer of mucosal tissue called the hymen ...

. Following her death, Ida's two brothers and sisters eventually fled to a

refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

camp in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Her mother initially stayed behind, determined to bring her daughter's killers to justice. However, she also left when

Kumar Ponnambalam Gaasinather Gangaser Ponnambalam ( ta, காசிநாதர் காங்கேசர் பொன்னம்பலம்: 12 August 1938 – 5 January 2000; known as Kumar Ponnambalam) was a Sri Lankan lawyer and politician. Leader of th ...

, the lawyer handling the case, was killed in Colombo in January 2000. Her murder attracted widespread media attention in Sri Lanka and elsewhere.

Government investigation

Two of the suspects had been recognized by a neighbor and another by the brother of the victim before he fled to India. A corporal and a soldier of the

Sri Lankan Army ta, இலங்கை இராணுவம் , image = File:Sri Lanka Army Logo.png , image_size = 180px , caption = Emblem of the Sri Lanka Army , start_date ...

were identified at an identification parade by witnesses and taken into custody. However, after two key witnesses were threatened and subsequently fled to India, the case is no longer proceeding. The suspects have been released on bail. Various witnesses testified at hearings held during the year. During the year, investigations conducted into the case found that the weapons used in the killing belonged to army personnel. Forensic experts have confirmed that the bullets used in Ida’s murder correspond to those usually used by the army.

Related to the incident

''Napoleon Figerardo'', a brother of Carmelita who was about to be deported to Sri Lanka from an Indian refugee camp was given a reprieve because of the actions of Human Rights groups. According to JRS South Asia reports. . His family has a history of violent deaths. Two of the brothers were killed in 1995 by rival

Tamil militant groups Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups rose to prominence in the 1970s to fight the state of Sri Lanka in order to create an independent Tamil Eelam in the north of Sri Lanka. They rose in response to the perception among minority Sri Lankan Tamils th ...

. His sister, Ida Carmelita, was raped and killed in July 1999 by five men who broke into her mother’s house at night.

References

External links

Ida Carmelita fileAmnesty International Report on Rape in Sri Lanka
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carmelitta, Ida 1980 births 1999 deaths Deaths by firearm in Sri Lanka Gang rape in Sri Lanka Human rights abuses in Sri Lanka People murdered in Sri Lanka Sri Lankan murder victims Sri Lankan Tamil people 1999 murders in Sri Lanka Violence against women in Sri Lanka

Incident

Government investigation

Related to the incident

See also

References

External links