A British citizen who has been in a Sri Lankan prison since 2007 has been found dead, reported the Uthayan.
The Tamil political prisoner Visvalingam Gopithas, 43, was accused of supporting the LTTE financially and arrested on his arrival at Katunayake Airport in March 2007 and had been held without charge for 5 years, before his conviction in 2012. Mr Gopithas denied all charges.
According to the Uthayan, fellow inmates said his death was suspicious and demanded an investigation.
Gopithas was found dead in the bathroom of Section C in Welikada Prison, also known as Magazine Prison. Reports say he was previously attacked by Sinhalese prisoners in 2011, who stripped and tortured him, and survived a murder attempt in 2012.
Gopithas has spent more than 6 years languishing in a Sri Lankan prison, under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. In 2011, a spokesman for the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office said,
"FCO minister Alistair Burt raised Mr Gopithas's continued detention without charge with the Sri Lankan foreign minister, [G L] Peiris in June this year … [and] more broadly, the UK has regularly expressed its concern about legislation in Sri Lanka that allows for prolonged detention without charge."
Read more on his case in our report: British Tamils held in Sri Lanka without charge (18 September 2011)
(Edited 25 Feb 2014 at 20:30GMT to include details on conviction)
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