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Udatalawinna Massacre : 21 suspects discharged

by Kandy North Gr. Correspondent

When the Udatalawinna massacre of 10 persons came up before Teldeniya Magistrate Preethi Inoka Ranasinghe yesterday (13), 21 suspects were discharged on submissions made by State Counsel Achala Wengappuli.

Addressing Court on behalf of the Attorney General, State Counsel Achala Wengappuli stated that according to the investigation report filed, 28 army soldiers and an Army Officer have been deployed on 05.12.2001 before the massacre at the instance of the 35th suspect, and out of them 13 soldiers who reported for duty remained at 2nd Sinha Regiment Headquarters but were not taken to the residence of the 35th suspects. He submitted that these 13 soldiers were not involved in any incident that day.

He submitted that the balance 15 army personnel and the Army Officer have reported for duty at the residence of the 35th suspect at Mahaiyawa and out of them 2 were engaged to guard that residence while 4 others went in a van with Mahendra Ratwatte who is a son of the 35th suspect and that there is no evidence involving these 6 army personnel in the incident. In addition, the two suspects arrested by the Wattegama Police and produced before Court immediately after the incident, too have nothing against them, stated the State Counsel.

Continuing his submissions, the State Counsel stated that the automatic fire-arms issued to the Army Personnel and the ammunition recovered at the scene of incident have been referred to the Government Analyst for a detailed examination and report, but the report is not ready yet due to practical difficulties involving perplexities and moved for time to file the Government Analyst's Report.

In the circumstances, the State Counsel moved Court to discharge the 21 suspects against whom no evidence have been disclosed according to the investigations and urged Court to warn them not to interfere with prosecution witnesses in the case and also to warn them that depending on further investigations, they are liable to be dealt with according to law, if circumstances demand.

Having listened to the submissions made by State Counsel, the Magistrate discharged the 21 suspects and further remanded the 18 other suspects including the former Deputy Defence Minister Anuruddha Ratwatte and his two sons Lohan Ratwatte and Chanuka Ratwatte till May 22.

The Magistrate further ordered to release Defender Vehicle No. 65-3667 belonging to Petroleum Corporation to the Corporation's Security Manager Captain K.K. Samarapala.

The suspects released were: Wasantha Kumara Wijesinghe, Don Kumara Nayanasiri Wijesinghe, Kankanamge Sarath, Abeykone Navaratne Wasala Mudiyanselage Sumana Bandara, A.M. Ranjith Bandara, Thuan Saleem Thuan Ramsi, E.M. Lalith Ekanayake, Muthuwadi Arachchige Upali Senadheera, Pedige Nihal Wijeratne, R.M. Anura, Kala Bandaralage Gunasekera, R.M. Malinda Ratnayake, Liyanage Asanka Sampath Perera, Gunamunige Nilantha Chandimal, Gampola Hapugoda Gedera Prasanna Kumara Gunaratne, Saminda Deepal Alahakone, Loku Pothagamage Wimalasena, Yoosuf Mohamed Hassan Riyas Mohamed, Warnakulasooriya Anton Kingsleylorch and R.M. Upali Ratnayake.

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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