COLOMBO (TIP): Sri Lankan police have arrested three navy personnel over an ethnic Tamil lawmaker’s assassination that had been blamed on Tamil Tiger rebels.

Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said April 1 that the three men are suspected in the killing of Nadaraja Raviraj, who was shot dead in his car in 2006 during the country’s civil war.

Raviraj was outspoken on greater self-rule for minority ethnic Tamils and explained the Tamil perspective of the conflict in Sinhala, the language of the majority.

The government of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa blamed the killing on the now-defeated Tamil rebels, but Raviraj’s supporters suspected a government hand.

Rajapaksa’s government was accused of operating paramilitary groups to kill and abduct rebel suspects and dissidents.

The new government of President Maithripala Sirisena has promised accountability for wartime abuses.