Army Brigadier, 3 other personnel to be charged: | Daily News
AG asks CJ to appoint Trial-at-Bar to hear Rathupaswala shooting

Army Brigadier, 3 other personnel to be charged:

Attorney General Dappula de Livera PC has requested the Chief Justice to appoint three High Court judges to constitute a High Court Trial-at-Bar for prosecution of the shooting incident took place during the public protests in Rathupaswala in 2013.

The Attorney General’s Co-ordinating Officer, State Counsel Nishara Jayaratne, told news media that the Attorney General has already prepared indictments to be filed against four Army officers including a Brigadier, a staff sergeant and two corporals in connection with the shooting incident, that killed three and wounded 45 others.

The Attorney General expects to file indictments against four accused, namely, Brigadier Anura Deshapriya Gunawardena, Arunage Sirisena, Jayasundara Mudiyanselage Tillekaratne and Lalith Grey under 94 counts including committing the murder of three individuals under section 296 of the Penal Code.

The Attorney General also expects to file indictments against the accused under section 140 of the Penal Code for being the members of unlawful assembly on or around August 1, 2013 at Weliweriya in Rathupasawala.

The Attorney General observed that 140 of army personnel led by Brigadier Anura Deshapriya Gunawardena had deployed to disperse the protesters who had engaged in a peaceful protest demanding clean drinking water supplies. Four accused are to be further charged under section 300, 314, 146 and 32 of Penal Code.

The Attorney General further observed that evidence given by eye witnesses confirmed that Brigadier Gunawardena had ordered the troops to open fire on the protesters and to destroy the evidence of the firing. However, police were able to recover 16 used bullets from the vicinity and those items had been sent to the Government Analyst for an analytical report.The Government Analyst had confirmed the eleven bullets had been released from three firearms belonging to three army personnel who were deployed to disperse the protesters.

 

 


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