Five Sri Lankan doctors have recanted their allegations that thousands of civilians were killed in the final days of the government's war with the Tamil Tiger separatists.
The doctors, who are being held by Sri Lanka's Criminal Investigation Department, said on Wednesday that they were pressured into giving exaggerated figures.
"The LTTE [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam] threatened doctors to give information to the outside and sometimes they came with a list of numbers," Dr Thangarajha Sathyamoorthi said.
The doctors were arrested after giving a series of telephone interviews to the media stating that the Sri Lankan military had shelled civilian areas causing thousands of casualties.
"The majority of the people were killed and injured in crossfire and when people were trying to come into the army-controlled area. But we were ordered to exaggerate the figures," Dr V Shanmugarajah said.
Sri Lanka doctors 'inflated' deaths
Five Sri Lankan doctors have recanted their allegations that thousands of civilians were killed in the final days of the government's war with the Tamil Tiger separatists.
The doctors, who are being held by Sri Lanka's Criminal Investigation Department, said on Wednesday that they were pressured into giving exaggerated figures.
"The LTTE [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam] threatened doctors to give information to the outside and sometimes they came with a list of numbers," Dr Thangarajha Sathyamoorthi said.
The doctors were arrested after giving a series of telephone interviews to the media stating that the Sri Lankan military had shelled civilian areas causing thousands of casualties.
"The majority of the people were killed and injured in crossfire and when people were trying to come into the army-controlled area. But we were ordered to exaggerate the figures," Dr V Shanmugarajah said.
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