Twenty-five years after the Tamil journalist Nimalarajan Mylvaganam was shot dead in Jaffna, his killing remains unresolved.
The anniversary fell on Monday 19 October.
He was attacked at his family home in the northern city while writing a report for the BBC.
A report released last month by the International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) set out the failures of Sri Lanka’s police in investigating the murder.
It described the case as a textbook example of investigative failure.
It also concluded that a culture of impunity in Sri Lanka allowed the murder or disappearance of 44 journalists between 2000 and 2010.
A killing in a high-security zone
Nimalarajan had worked for the BBC for more than six years. He also contributed to the Tamil daily Virakesari and the Sinhala weekly Ravaya.
The BBC reported that his father was repeatedly stabbed in the attack, while his mother and a young nephew were badly injured when a grenade exploded in the sitting room.
It added that the attack took place during curfew hours in a high-security zone in Jaffna, close to several military checkpoints.
The Committee to Protect Journalists said shortly after his death that the attackers fired through the window of the study where he was working on an article.
They then threw a grenade into the house and fled.
Local journalists suspected that his reporting on vote-rigging and intimidation in Jaffna during the recent parliamentary elections may have led to the killing.
The government-aligned paramilitary group, the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), is suspected of carrying out the murder.
The Attorney General’s Department later ordered the release of the suspects held in the case, and at least two others were believed to be abroad.
In February 2022, the Metropolitan Police’s War Crimes Team arrested a 48-year-old man in Britain in connection with the murder.
He was later released.
A quarter of a century on, the family of a journalist killed within sight of military checkpoints is still waiting for answers.