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Actress Damitha Abeyratne released on bail

13 Sep 2022

  • Rs. 1 mn personal bail and foreign travel ban imposed 
  • Harini Amarasuriya, Hirunika allege mistreatment of actress by Prisons Dept.  
BY Buddhika Samaraweera   Activist and actress Damitha Abeyratne, who was arrested and then placed in remand custody until tomorrow (14) for allegedly forcibly entering the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo during the massive public protests held in July, was granted bail by the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court yesterday (12). The case against Abeyratne, who was arrested by the Colombo North Crimes Division last week, was taken up before Colombo Fort Chief Magistrate Thilina Gamage by a motion yesterday. At that time, the Chief Magistrate ordered her to be released on two personal bails of Rs. 500,000 each. The Chief Magistrate also issued an order preventing her from travelling overseas. Abeyratne, who has been at the forefront of the protests which earlier demanded the resignation of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and then the resignation of incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe, was arrested by the Police on 7 September for allegedly forcibly entering the Presidential Secretariat during the public protests in July. She was produced before the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court on 8 September and was remanded until tomorrow. Meanwhile, National People’s Power (NPP) MP Dr. Harini Amarasuriya and former MP Hirunika Premachandra accused prison authorities of mistreating actress Abeyratne when she was detained in the Welikada Prison. Dr. Amarasuriya said that after meeting Abeyratne on 10 September, she came to know that the latter was not well. She said that a medical officer (MO) had examined her (Abeyratne) and had recommended that she be admitted to a hospital but that the prison authorities had not taken steps to admit her to a hospital. When she inquired about the matter from a female official there, she said that the relevant official had informed her that instructions had not been given to admit Abeyratne to the hospital. Furthermore, Premachandra, who had visited Abeyratne on 10 September, claimed that Abeyratne had wanted to use the toilet early 10 September morning, but that she had only been taken out of the cell after screaming for a long time. She also claimed that Abeyratne has been given some bread with spoiled dhal curry and that she had fallen ill after consuming that. Noting that the condition of prisons is very poor, Premachandra said that there should be immediate action to address such issues.  


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