The Colombo High Court yesterday served indictment to eight accused including the Captain of the X-Press Pearl Vessel which caught fire and sank off in the seas near the Colombo Harbour while carrying Nitric Acid and other toxic chemicals.
The indictments were served to the accused before Colombo High Court Judge Damith Thotawatta over the case filed against the accused in connection with the damage caused to the environment following the fire of the X-Press Pearl vessel in Sri Lankan waters in May 2021 and the toxic chemicals stored there mixed with the sea water.
When the case was taken up before the Colombo High Court yesterday, counsels appearing for the defence informed court that a petition was filed in the Supreme Court challenging the indictment filed against their client.
He said that the preliminary objections raised by the defence over the case was previously rejected by the Colombo high Court and following that they have filed an appeal before the Court of Appeal. However, the appeal was also rejected by the Court of Appeal and then filed another application before the Supreme Court.
Therefore, they sought from the court not to serve the indictment to the accused and not to commence the trial until the conclusion of the petition filed in the Supreme Court.
After considering facts, the Colombo High Court Judge ordered to reject the request made by the defence and ordered to commence the trial.
Following that, the charge sheets were read out to the accused in open Court and the accused admitted that they are innocent for the allegations.
In the inception of the trial, Senior Deputy Solicitor General Madhawa Thennakoon appearing on behalf of the Attorney General informed the Court that the Sri Lankan marine system has suffered the greatest environmental damage among the world’s marine systems. He also emphasized that due to this incident, there was a huge environmental pollution in the Sri Lankan Seas. By now, three years have passed since this disaster, but the side effects are still being experienced by the citizens of the entire country, including the fishermen, he said. The Senior Deputy Solicitor General informed the court that hundreds of tons of plastic containing toxic chemicals stored in the ship are being dumped on the north-west and west coasts of Sri Lanka. He also said that Sri Lanka will have to face the negative side effects of this destruction for many more years.
Meanwhile, the Marine Environmental Protection Authority had brought the plastic pieces which was contained the chemicals, damaged corals and the ship wreckage to the open court yesterday.
Dilshan Tharaka