A Sri Lankan court sentenced five people to death for their role in a massacre at a detention camp housing suspected Tamil Tiger rebels and former child soldiers.
Those found guilty included two police officers.
Out of the 18 who faced trial over the massacre, 13 were discharged because of lack of evidence. The five convicted have the right to appeal.
The sentences for the massacre, which sparked the island's worst ethnic riots in 18 years, were automatically commuted to life imprisonment as Sri Lanka has had a moratorium on the death penalty since 1976.
The 94-page judgement condemned police officers for complicity in the attack.
Less than half of the 40 inmates of the Bindunuwewa camp 200 km (140 miles) east of Colombo survived after a machete-wielding mob rampaged through the rehabilitation camp in October 2000.
Tamil protests over the massacre turned violent, sparking Sri Lanka's worst inter-communal violence since 1983, when an anti-Tamil riot plunged the country into the full-scale war that cost 64,000 lives and displaced one million.
The island is enjoying the longest lull in fighting since then due to a Norwegian-brokered truce signed in February last year, and the Tigers and government have held several rounds of peace talks.