Image: Family members of the killed prisoners staging a protest in front of the Mahara Prison.
(October 17, 2024) The Attorney General has ordered the Criminal Investigation Department not to take further steps regarding the death of 11 inmates.
During a protest in Mahara Prison in November 2020 when prison officers and the Police Special Task Force shot dead 11 inmates.
The Attorney General has made this notification against the background that the Welisara Magistrate’s Court has issued an order stating that the relevant incident is a crime and that the officers involved should be immediately arrested and brought to court.
On November 29, 2020, the inmates of Mahara Prison had staged an agitation demanding that PCR tests be conducted to confirm whether they have contracted Covid and that the inmates infected with Covid should be referred to hospitals for proper treatment.
There, 11 inmates lost their lives in the shooting by the prison officers and the police special task force.
Then a legal case was considered before the Welisara Magistrate’s Court regarding the related incident and announcing its verdict on April 26, 2023, Welisara Magistrate Thusita Dhammika Udivavidana decided that the killing of the 11 inmates of Mahara Prison was a crime.
Although the Attorney General presented evidence that the shootings were carried out as a use of minimum force to suppress a rebellion, the Magistrate stated that it did not appear that the shots were fired to suppress a rebellion or as a humanitarian operation based on the way the dead prisoners were shot.
The Magistrate further explained in his decision that although the evidence was presented that the shooting should be the knee down as the use of minimal force, all the 11 inmates who died had died due to gunshot wounds to the head, stomach, chest, etc.
Accordingly, the Magistrate decided that the killing of inmates in Mahara Prison was a crime and ordered the Criminal Investigation Department to arrest all the prison and special task force officers involved in the crime and present them to the court.
However, despite the court having issued such an order, the Attorney General’s Department sent a letter to the Director of the Criminal Investigation Department on August 30, informing them not to take any further action regarding the death of the 11 inmates of Mahara Prison.
In the relevant letter issued by the Additional Solicitor General Mrs. Haripriya Jayasundara on behalf of the Attorney General, it is observed that during the Mahara Prison incident in question, the prison officers and the Police Special Task Force have acted lawfully and have not exceeded the officers’ right to personal security.
It is also stated in the article that it appears from the study of the investigation excerpts that the prison officers have acted in accordance with Article 77 of the Prison Ordinance.
Therefore, the Additional Solicitor General has informed the Criminal Investigation Department that there is no need to take further action regarding the death of 11 inmates in Mahara Prison, and has also taken steps to close the file of the Attorney General’s Department in this regard.
(Translation from an article appeared on whatnews.lk Web site.)