Although a formal request had been made to Secretary to President Lalith Weeratunga to make public the Mahanama Tillekeratne report on the killing of Katunayake Free Trade Zone employee Roshan Chanaka by police in May last year (2011), the document had not been released as yet nor has the request been acknowledged, Free Trade Zones and General Services Employees Union (FTZ GSEU) Secretary Anton Marcus said yesterday.
Roshan Chanaka was shot dead by police during a protest by FTZ workers in Katunayake against a a government move to introduce a pension scheme for the private sector employees.
Marcus told The Island that the 11 fundamental rights applications had been listed for trial in the Supreme Court on August 27 against the indiscriminate shooting at the protesters by the police.
He said that the Joint Trade Union Alliance (JTUA) wanted an independent investigation into the incident on May 30 2011, where Roshan Chanaka died of gun shot injuries when police opened fire.
Marcus said that 270 Free Trade Zone employees had been hospitalised due to the brutal police attack. Two of the victims were still unable to work as they were using crutches. But they had not been compensated yet, he said, adding that although President Mahinda Rajapaksa had directed the Board of Investment (BoI) to pay the family of Roshan Chanaka Rs. 5 million as compensation, the full amount had not been paid.
By Lal Gunasekera
IS