Chandra Fernando (priest)

Chandra Fernando (August 9, 1942 – June 6, 1988) was a priest from the town of Baticaloa in minority Tamil-dominated eastern province of Sri Lanka.

[1][2] Chandra Fernando, born in 1942 in Fernandos Lane, Puliyantheevu[citation needed] (presently called Batticaloa Town), was primarily educated at St. Michael's College National School and ordained as Catholic Priest in the year 1970.

He served as a Parish Priest at St. Mary’s Co-cathedral, Batticaloa from 1984 to June 6, 1988.

He was the secretary of the local Batticalao Citizens Committee and was instrumental in highlighting human rights violations by all sides in the Sri Lankan civil war including the rebel LTTE group which was at that time battling the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) and aligned para-military groups.

[1][3] Although according to a report by the pro-LTTE Tamilnet, he was killed by a gunman belonging to the paramilitary group Peoples Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) organization working for the local Indian Army administration,[3] but according to David Jeyaraj, an ethnic Sri Lankan Tamil journalist based in Canada, he was killed by the operatives of the paramilitary group Eelam Peoples Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF).