The Gampaha High Court (HC) Trial-at-Bar has deferred delivering the verdict in the case against a Brigadier and three soldiers of the Army over the shooting to death of three persons and injuring several others during a protest by villagers demanding clean drinking water in Rathupaswala, Gampaha.
The Court was scheduled to deliver its verdict yesterday (30 April), however, when the case was taken up, the Trial-at-Bar announced that the verdict will be delivered on 17 May of this year.
On 1 August 2013, Army personnel opened fire at unarmed locals in Weliweriya, killing three and injuring several others, as they protested against a factory which they said polluted their groundwater and demanded clean drinking water.
In 2019, President’s Counsel and Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya appointed a Trial-at-Bar consisting of HC Judges Menaka Wijesundara (President), Nimal Ranaweera and Nishantha Hapuarachchi to hear the Rathupaswala case, after considering the Attorney General’s request.