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Ratwatte to appear at HRCSL on new date

04 Oct 2021

  • Original appearance postponed, citing illness
BY Pamodi Waravita Former Prison Management and Prisoners’ Rehabilitation State Minister Lohan Ratwatte, who was due to appear at the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) last month, will now appear as required this month, after he requested that the date be postponed, citing an illness, according to HRCSL officials. Ratwatte will appear at HRCSL as part of its ongoing investigation into the incidents that occurred last month at the Welikada and Anuradhapura Prisons, where in the latter incident, Ratwatte is accused of having threatened prisoners with his personal firearm. HRCSL officials told The Morning yesterday (4) that the investigation is progressing steadily and that the prisoners involved in the incident and the Prisons Commissioner General (CG) Thushara Upuldeniya have already been questioned last month. Last week, eight Tamil political prisoners at the Anuradhapura Prison filed a fundamental rights (FR) petition at the Supreme Court, requesting appropriate interim orders that fit the alleged serious offences of Ratwatte at the Anuradhapura Prison on 12 September. On 12 September, an inebriated and pistol-brandishing Ratwatte had flown in a helicopter to the Anuradhapura Prison, where he had summoned a group of Tamil political prisoners detained under the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act, No. 48 of 1979 as amended (reports state between eight to 16 such prisoners), ordered them to kneel, and had proceeded to threaten two of them including Mathiyarasan Sulakshan (Prisoner Number 141 whose case is being heard at the Vavuniya High Court) and Ganesan Tharshan, at point blank range, telling them to accept their offence/s and to submit to authority. Prior to this incident, on 6 September, Ratwatte had, together with a group of friends, also under the influence of liquor, forcibly entered the Welikada Prison premises after 6 p.m. and proceeded to view the gallows. As per Section 39 of the Prisons Ordinance, a parliamentarian who wishes to pay a visit to a prison can only do so between the hours of 5.30 a.m. and 5.30 p.m. The Prisons Department, the HRCSL, and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) have since commenced investigations into incidents, whilst Justice Minister President’s Counsel (PC) M.U.M. Ali Sabry appointed High Court Judge (Retd.) Kusala Sarojani Weerawardena to independently inquire into the incident. Ratwatte resigned from his post on 15 September, and he is claimed to have, as per a Tweet by the President’s Spokesman, accepted responsibility for the incidents at the Welikada and Anuradhapura Prisons. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the same Tweet mentioned, had accepted the said resignation. However, in subsequent statements made to the media, Ratwatte had denied all allegations against him.


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