village falls within the government-controlled territory in northern Sri Lanka. It is a prominent minority Sri Lankan Tamil but Roman Catholic dominant village in the Jaffna peninsula. The Sri Lankan Navy has security jurisdiction in the surrounding area. Thiruchchelvam Nihal Jim Brown was ordained in 2004. In July 2006, he was appointed parish priest of St. Philip Neri Church in the Jaffna district. Father Brown took over the role of parish priest after his predecessor, Father Amal Raj, requested a transfer from St. Philip Neri after having allegedly received death threats from a local Sri Lankan Navy officer. As part of ongoing military operations, the Sri Lankan Army shelled the St. Philip Neri's Church in Allaipiddy on August 13, 2006 killing 15 refugees sheltering there. Father Brown was publicly rebuked by navy officials for having moved all 300, mostly Catholic, Allaipiddy families to a safer Catholic church at Kayts eight miles away during military operations. Brown was also accused by the Sri Lankan Navy commanding officer of Allaipiddy of helping the rebel group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to dig bunkers.
Disappearance
According to an Amnesty International report, on the day they went missing, Father Brown and Wenceslaus Vinces Vimalathas were travelling by motorbike to Allaipiddy village, when they met a friend who accompanied them to the Allaipiddy Sri Lankan Navy checkpoint. The friend left the two men standing at the checkpoint at approximately 2.10pm. An eyewitness confirmed that they saw the two men shortly after this, travelling through Allaipiddy on a motorbike. The eyewitness then saw two motorbikes each carrying three armed men wearing bulletproof vests, following Father Brown and Vimalathas along the road. The six armed men then stopped outside St. Mary's Church in Allaipiddy and following some discussion, one of the motorbikes turned back in the direction of the SLN Allaipiddy checkpoint. When the eyewitness reached the SLN Navy checkpoint in order to leave Allaipiddy, they saw the same three armed men who had turned back from St. Mary's Church talking to the SLN personnel and pointing in the direction of Allaipiddy. The armed men then allegedly rode back to Allaipiddy village, taking a different route than they had before. Inquiries about the whereabouts of Father Brown and Vimalathas were made at a number of churches across the Jaffna peninsula and in surrounding areas. Rear Admiral Upali Ranaweera, Commander of the SLN's Northern Region, denied that the two men were arrested. Navy personnel at the Allaipiddy checkpoint stated that Father Brown and Vimalathas passed through the Allaipiddy checkpoint and returned soon after, travelling in the direction of Jaffna town. However, local police have been unable to process their request to the Navy to produce the evidence of their return to the Jaffna city. A complaint was lodged with local police as well as the Human Rights Commission regarding their disappearance and investigations took place into their whereabouts.
Controversy over found body
According to local newspapers a "mutilated torso" packed in a sand bag found off the coast of the Jaffna peninsula, near Pungudutheevu, on March 14, 2007 was identified as the dead priest. However, the Sri Lankan government announced in June 2007 that subsequent DNA analyses had proved that the remains were not those of either man.
