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Minister of Youth and Sports Namal Rajapaksa last Thursday (16) visited the Anuradhapura Prison to visit detainees held under the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act (PTA), who were allegedly threatened last Sunday (12) by State Minister Lohan Ratwatte.
Several PTA detainees had requested a meeting with Rajapaksa and the Minister had accepted the request.
After listening to the grievances expressed by the inmates, Rajapaksa had assured he would address their issues.
The Minister had noted that he did not condone the incidents that had taken place in the prison as reported in the media.
However, Rajapaksa had explained to the detainees that they should be mindful of not being pawns to the agendas of various political parties. He had asked the inmates not to be misled by parties like the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).
He had explained that it was during the previous Mahinda Rajapaksa Government that thousands of former LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) cadres were rehabilitated.
Rajapaksa had assured that he would work to secure their release from prison, adding that they could join any political party afterwards, but that they should be mindful of not being used by any party.
Seeing one detainee who had no family or parents, Rajapaksa had said he would be provided with a house and a livelihood upon his release.
Last Sunday evening, some PTA detainees were allegedly lined up and threatened by State Minister Ratwatte who held a gun to them.
Hearing about the incident at the Anuradhapura Prison, and an earlier incident at the Welikada Prison, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was in Italy on an official visit at the time, called Ratwatte and asked him to step down from the portfolio of prison management and prisoners’ rehabilitation.
The Prime Minister had also informed the President that Ratwatte had to be removed from the prison portfolio.
Ratwatte submitted a letter to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on his decision to resign as State Minister for Prison Management and Prisoners’ Rehabilitation.
The President immediately accepted the letter and a statement was also issued on behalf of the President saying that Ratwatte had tendered his resignation after accepting responsibility for the alleged actions that had taken place in the prison.
However, Ratwatte did not resign from his other state ministerial portfolio and continues as the State Minister of Gem and Jewellery.
It is learnt that Prime Minister Rajapaksa is to initiate a disciplinary inquiry against Ratwatte by the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP).
However, Ratwatte told the media last week that he had not threatened the prisoners at the Anuradhapura Prison and had visited the prison on a routine check only.
Meanwhile, Minister of Public Security Sarath Weerasekera had instructed Inspector General of Police (IGP) Chandana Wickramaratne to immediately investigate a complaint lodged with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) against State Minister Ratwatte by a prisoner rights group.