1. Neelan Tiruchelvam was a Member of Parliament and Director of the International Centre for Ethnic Studies.
20 Facts About Neelan Tiruchelvam
1. 2.
Neelan Tiruchelvam advocated for a peaceful resolution to the Sri Lankan Civil War and is considered one of the most influential researchers on constitutional law and constitutional theory in Sri Lanka.
3.
On 29 July 1999, Neelan Tiruchelvam was assassinated when an attacker detonated his explosives next to Neelan Tiruchelvam's car.
4.
Neelan Tiruchelvam has received posthumous recognition by the Train Foundation's Civil Courage Prize.
5.
Neelan Tiruchelvam was the son of M Tiruchelvam, a leading lawyer, and Punithavathy.
6.
Neelan Tiruchelvam was called to the bar as an advocate in 1968.
7.
Neelan Tiruchelvam took over his father's legal practice and established the law firm Tiruchelvam Associates in 1982.
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Neelan Tiruchelvam was made a President's Counsel in February 1998.
9.
Neelan Tiruchelvam held several academic positions in Sri Lanka and the USA.
10.
Neelan Tiruchelvam was Fulbright Fellow and fellow in law and modernization at Yale Law School.
11.
Neelan Tiruchelvam was then reader at the Faculty of Law, University of Sri Lanka Colombo campus and Edward Smith Visiting Fellow and Lecturer at Harvard Law School.
12.
Neelan Tiruchelvam was director of the Colombo-based International Centre for Ethnic Studies.
13.
Neelan Tiruchelvam became a member of the London-based Minority Rights Group International in 1994 and was elected its chair in 1999.
14.
Neelan Tiruchelvam had been an international observer in several countries, including Pakistan, Chile, Kazakhstan, Ethiopia, South Africa and Nigeria.
15.
Neelan Tiruchelvam was appointed as the TULF's National List MP in Parliament following the 1994 parliamentary election.
16.
The LTTE's spokesman Anton Balasingham confirmed to Erik Solheim that they had killed Neelan Tiruchelvam, and said it was due to him betraying Tamil interests by supporting the government's watered down devolution package, despite them giving him prior warnings to quit.
17.
In 2001 Neelan Tiruchelvam was posthumously awarded the Law and Society Association first International Prize for "his distinguished scholarship in legal pluralism, human rights, constitutionalism, ethnic conflict, and the capacity of law to contain violence".
18.
Neelan Tiruchelvam has received posthumous recognition by the Train Foundation's Civil Courage Prize.
19.
Neelan Tiruchelvam was notable for his research into constitutional law and theory and is considered to be pioneering researchers into the field in Sri Lanka.
20.
The Neelan Tiruchelvam Trust was established in 2001, to continue his work in promoting democracy, good governance, social justice, institution building and promote human rights in Sri Lanka.