“If the video were doctored then it [...] could be proved technically”

X, who wishes to remain anonymous, is a member of Europe-based activists Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, the group that released the video. He says he spent 17 years working for Sinhalese publications before being exiled, along with dozens of others, for reporting "wrongly" on the war against the Tamils.

All we can say about the video is that the source says it was filmed in January, and the soldiers speak with a Sinhalese accent. We cannot give any further details because the person who gave it to us - an extremely reliable contact that we've known for a very long time - still lives in Sri Lanka. Seeing as 34 journalists have been killed in the past four years, I don't think 35 would make much difference to the authorities.

If it were false we would not have taken the risk of putting our name on it. The government says that it can't be real because the soldiers have long hair and are not wearing badges; and the Tamils have short hair. Well I can show you plenty of photos of soldiers with long hair and no badges! And do they seriously believe that no Tamil civilian has short hair?! These claims just show how helpless the government has become, how desperate their argument. If the video were doctored, then it means we would have inserted the audio after, and that is something which could be proved technically. We can't do it ourselves because it would be an expensive procedure, but the government could. Why don't they?

Why it was filmed, we can't be sure. But in the past 30 years and especially during the 1990s, taking photos of detained alleged LTTE members seems to have become quite popular with the Sri Lankan army. Their favourites are women, stripped naked after they've been killed.

The UN already knows what's going on in Sri Lanka, which is why they're so confident in their accusations. We are hoping there'll be an independent investigation. But considering our past experiences, we're not very optimistic."