Subash Chandraboas

Nilam

April 16, 2007, in an area near Vavuniya, Sri Lanka

Chandraboas, 32, editor of a small Tamil-language monthly magazine, Nilam (The Ground), was shot to death at around 7:30 p.m. near his home in the government-controlled town of Thoanikkal, near Vavuniya in ethnically Tamil Sri Lanka. His 8-year-old daughter told CPJ that the assassins spoke in Tamil and Sinhalese.

"His only work was journalism," said Sunanda Deshapriya of the Sri Lankan media rights group Free Media Movement. "There was no other reason to kill him."

A strong individualist who owned his own printing press, Chandraboas produced Nilam almost single-handedly and was recognized for his passion for literature as well as journalism. He had also contributed to the London-based magazine Tamil World and the Colombo-based magazine Aravali on a freelance basis.

Medium: Print

Job: Publisher / Owner

Beats Covered: Culture, Sports

Gender: Male

Local or Foreign: Local

Freelance: No

Type of Death: Murder

Suspected Source of Fire: Political Group

Impunity: Yes

Taken Captive: No

Tortured: No

Threatened: No

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• Attacks on the Press 2007: Sri Lanka, February 5, 2008
• In Sri Lanka, editor of Tamil magazine is killed in his home , April 20, 2007