Facebook icon
Twitter icon
e-mail icon

More Sri Lankan officers granted bail over abduction and murder of Tamils

At least 13 Sri Lankan soldiers, including the former navy media spokesperson, have been granted bail, despite having been charged over the abduction and possible murder of 11 Tamil youth, after they were forcibly disappeared in 2008 and 2009.

A three member Sri Lankan Permanent High Court panel granted bail to the accused, which includes former spokesperson Commodore DKP Dassanayake.

They stand accused of involvement in the abduction of the eleven Tamil youth, who were held in navy bases at Trincomalee and Colombo before being almost certainly murdered. Earlier this month, the main suspect in the case Lieutenant Commander Chandana Prasad Hettiarachchi alias 'Navy Sampath', who had earlier evaded arrest, was also released on bail.

Meanwhile another suspect in the case, former navy commander Admiral Wasanth Karannagoda, has still not appeared before the court.  

He was promoted to the highest rank in the navy by former president Maithripala Sirisena in the midst of the investigation, less than a month before the CID announced he was to be indicted.

We need your support

Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.

Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view

We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.

For more ways to donate visit https://donate.tamilguardian.com.