The Attorney General yesterday informed the Court of Appeal that the progress of the CID investigation into the 2012 Welikada prison riot will be submitted to Court on December 13.
Senior State Counsel Manohara Jayasinghe made this remark pursuant to a writ petition which sought an order directing the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the CID Director to commence an investigation into the Welikada prison riot in 2012 resulting in the death of 27 inmates. When the petition came up before Court of Appeal (President) Justice L.T.B. Dehideniya and Justice Shiran Gunaratne, the matter was fixed for December 13.
Sudesh Nandimal Silva who was in remand custody at the time the incidents took place, has filed this writ petition citing the Prisons Commissioner General, the CID Director, Inspector General of Police, Prison Reforms, Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Hindu Religious Affairs Minister and the Attorney General as respondents.
Silva said he was bringing the Court’s attention to what he saw and was within his personal knowledge of the said tragic incidents to obtain the reliefs.
On November 9, 2012, at about 1.00 pm Silva and other prisoners at Welikada prison received information that personnel from the Army and STF were about to enter the prison to conduct a search operation. He got to know that here was an argument between prison officials and a TID, STF contingent waiting at the prison gate on the procedure related to the search operation.
Silva stated that the prison was in the control of the Army until 10 am on November 10, 2012. By that time, 27 prison inmates had been killed by the STF, Army, TID and Prison Intelligence combined operation.Silva has made a complaint to the CID on February 2, 2015. He stated that although four years had lapsed since the brutal killings of these prisoners, no action has yet been taken by the police or the Attorney General to conduct the investigation and prosecute offenders.
This petition was filed through senior counsel K.S. Ratnavale and counsel Senaka Perera. Senior State Counsel Manohara Jayasinghe appeared for the Attorney General.
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