was in charge. Casualty estimates and rape accusations According to UTHR, the number of victims according to leading local citizens following a house to house check, 67 bodies were identified and buried and a further 56 were missing (a total of 123). Most of the missing persons are presumed dead and cannot be identified, because like the seventeen burnt in the mine crater, they had been mostly burnt to ashes. The rice mill had the largest number of bodies – 43, although the police (with a history of minimising evidence) maintained that only 32 were killed. The locals also reported that at least six women (including two sisters) were raped, and despite the police denials, this was confirmed privately by medical officials. Government investigation After international community began to put more pressure on Sri Lanka for its human rights record, the government instituted an independent Commission of Inquiry into a massacre by soldiers at Kokkadichcholai in the east in June 1991 – the first inquiry of its kind ever held in Sri Lanka. According to Human Rights Watch, in 2002 the then Sri Lankan government authorities appeared more willing than in past years to acknowledge official responsibility for atrocities. On January 31, 2002 Sri Lankan army personnel in Batticaloa publicly acknowledged their role in large-scale massacres of civilians in the east, mentioning notorious attacks in Kokkaddicholai, Sathurukkondaan, Vanthaarumoolai, and Batticaloa. In February 2002, the attorney general reportedly issued indictments against more than six hundred police and armed forces personnel implicated in disappearances that occurred before 1994, many in connection with counterinsurgency operations against the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) organization. On June 28, two soldiers were sentenced to six years in prison and fined Rs. 2,500 (U.S. $27) each for their role in an abduction and murder in 1989. The independent commission instituted to look into the Kokkadichcholai incident recommended that compensation of some 5.25 million rupees (approximately CDN$210,000) to be paid to next of kin of those who were killed (67 were identified) and to people who lost property in the rampage. The commission also recommends prosecution of the soldiers involved. In 2001 the army accepted responsibility for the large scale massacre at the hamlet of Kokkadicholai. A military tribunal found the commanding officer guilty of failure to control his troops and illegal disposal of the bodies, and he was dismissed from service. The other 19 soldiers under trial were