The Court of Appeal has ordered the retrial of six former soldiers who had been acquitted by the Anuradhapura High Court following a trial into the 1996 massacre of Tamil civilians at Kumarapuram in Mullaitivu.
The accused had been indicted for the murder of 24 Tamil civilians and causing injuries to 25 others.
The Court of Appeal gave the order after considering an appeal filed by the Attorney General asking the court to vacate the ruling of the Anuradhapura High Court. The CA further ordered that its order be conveyed to the Anuradhapura High Court.
A bench comprising CA judges Amal Ranaraja and Sumudu Premachandra gave the order, with both judges writing separate judgements on the case.
Ranjith Padmasiri/ Sunday Times
In ordering the retrial, the CA agreed with Additional Solicitor General Sudarshana de Silva’s argument that the High Court judge had erred by not allowing the prosecution to mark certain entries made during the identification parade of the accused.
The incident occurred on February 11, 1996. The six former soldiers were indicted on 101 charges in the Anuradhapura High Court but were acquitted and released in 2016.
In his judgement, CA Justice Amal Ranaraja stated that the High Court judge had made a technical error by not allowing documents relating to the identification parade to be produced during the trial because they did not contain an official signature.
Justice Premachandra, meanwhile, stated in his judgement that it is unacceptable that the High Court judge had made the absence of an official signature and a date the deciding factor when it came to documents on the identification parade. “What the judge should have focused on was whether the evidence in question was admissible and could be assessed,” he observed.
President’s Counsel Tirantha Walaliyadde appeared for the respondent accused.