High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Majuwana Kankanamage Victor Ivan is a controversial but well regarded Sri Lankan journalist. He was a leader of the 1971 insurrection of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and used the nomme-de-guerre Podi Athula (as opposed to "Loku Athula" the former minister Athula Nimalasiri Jayasinghe. The leaders prosecuting the 1971 April insurrection trail began on June 12, 1972, at the Queen`s Club, located at the Baudddhaloka Mawatha, before the Criminal Justice Commission composed of Chief Justice H N G Fernando (Chairman) Justice A C A Alles, Justice V T Thamotheram, Justice H Dheragoda and Justice T W Rajaratnam. Those pleading not guilty were brought in batches before the Commission. The main case consisted of 41 suspects which included Mr Ivan. They were considered to be the main architects of the uprising and the youth rebellion. He now recalls that the insurrection was a "foolish dream" He now heads a radical Sri Lankan newspaper called Ravaya and is a fierce critic of the JVP. He`s also a member of the Free Media Movement and several other political NGOs.He authored several books the most controversial of which is `Choura Rejina`(Bandit Queen)on the dark side of President Chandrika Kumaratunga boldly discloses the malpractices. Mr Ivan was an ardent supporter of her during her election in 1994 but eventually grew distant. Victor Ivan abandoned his long standing anti-war stance by mid 2008, explaining that LTTE chief Prabhakaran is insatiable and only way to stop his terrorist tactics is to respond in kind, like the Sri Lankan Government under President Rajapakse. During the post war period he is increasingly leaning towards President Rajapakse and intervened several times on behalf of his beleaguered media colleagues who were at the receiving end of the administration. His new stance has severely criticized by some sections of the media who were forced to go in to exile due to their anti-government activities.