Lawyers for Democracy says killings of two suspects ‘plain murder’

 Lawyers for Democracy (LFD) yesterday condemned the killing of two suspects who were in police custody in two consecutive days and claimed it was plain murders.

“This is no doubt plain murder,” stated LFD, an independent organisation representing legal practitioners throughout the country and added that “it was time that action being taken to put a stop to this type of barbaric actions by the state”.

“These acts are a serious challenge to rule of law,” said in a statement signed by senior legal practitioners including Lal Wijenayake, Chandrapala Kumarage, J. C. Weliamuna, K. S. Ratnavale and Sudath Netthisinghe. On Wednesday, May 12, the attorney representing Tharaka Perera who was in police custody had informed the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) that there is a fear that his client would be killed in police custody. On the same night BASL President Saliya Pieris in writing urged the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Chandrana Wickremeratne to ensure the safety and security of persons in police custody.

The same day, the suspect’s attorney himself too had informed the IGP, the Director CID and the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka about the fear of his client’s life. However, on Thursday (13) morning, the Police announced that Tharaka Perera had been killed due to an incident that took place while he was taken for a search operation.

On May 11, another suspect Melon Mabula alias ‘Uru Juwa’ has died in the similar manner while in police custody.

“These were the latest cases to be reported of persons in police custody being killed after this government came to power. It is strange to see the police relating similar stories unashamedly after every such killing,” accused LFD in its statement. The body of lawyers also complained that judicial actions were not taken on these killings.“we do not see any action being taken by the Magistrate’s Court that has to hold an inquiry under the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure when such murders are reported to Court,” it stated.

LFD urged the government to investigate the killings in police custody and to initiate appropriate legal proceedings against those responsible.

The BASL strongly condemned the killing of the suspect despite prior notification to the head of police and claimed that “these deaths have all the hallmarks of extra-judicial killings”.

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