DecentLanka2015 ශිෂ්ටලංකා2015 decentlanka2015@gmail.com Media Release 19 October, 2015 Release ALL Prisoners held in Detention Without Charges With Compensation for “Denied life” The six (06) day long protest fast by over 200 Tamil detainees was reported as over this (17October) afternoon after TNA and Opposition leader R. Sampanthan who visited the Colombo Magazine Prison along with Commissioner General of Prisons informed detainees, PresidentSirisena has instructed the Minister of Justice to put in place a mechanism to look into their cases and complete the process before 07 November. This certainly is a relief as continued protests had the possibility of creating a violentenvironment that could have left bloody tragedies as happened in the past. Yet, we do have very strong reservations on this compromised solution proposed by the TNA leadership that has unrestricted faith in leaders of this government and with this minister on record saying Sri Lanka has no “political prisoners” who could be bias in how he intervenes inthis issue. Beyond that we also wish to raise issues on private/personal and civil liberty violations due tocontinued detention without charges that now demands they be released with no new mechanisms being set up again to investigate them anew. First, let us note that this government mandated to effectively speed up the reconciliation process with promises to abolish the PTA while reforming the legal system and the judicial process for the now confirmed “domestic investigations” into war crimes, has no moral right to treat these youth in detention any longer as “suspects under PTA” after keeping them in detention without any charges for unbelievably and inhumanly long periods from over 01 year to 19 years in one particular detention. If the State agencies working with special powers vested in them under the PTA could not find any valid evidence to frame any charges all these long years, there is absolutely no necessity to have any more mechanisms to try and slap charges on these detainees once again. It is most inhuman and savage to keep them under continued investigations year after year when there is no evidence unearthed against them. Such detention has denied them of their private/personal and civil liberties. They have beendenied family relationships and their right to social and economic life, keeping them for long years with no charges and for no reason, with no clear answer about their future. The State has no right to continue denying Citizens of their private/personal and civil liberties when they cannot be charged in any Court on this land. coque samsung pas cher We therefore stay convinced, there is no necessity to once again put them through anotherinvestigating mechanism as proposed by the President and accepted by the TNA leadership. We therefore demand, 1. all detainees with no charges against them, be immediately released unconditionally 2. any who may have charges brought against them be produced in Courts and trial fixedwithin next 02 weeks 3. compensation for all detainees released for their unjustly long “denied life” while held indetention 4. they be provided with a re-socialising programme including individual counselling by qualified personnel and livelihood opportunities at State expense. coque imprimé huawei pas cher Signatories Attorney at law Neville Ananda Attorney at Law Sujeewa Dahanayake Social activist Muditha Karunamuni Journalist Kusal Perera Trade union leader Anton Marcus Attorney at law Srinath Perera Contacts – Attorney at law Neville Ananda – 0777876811 Attorney at Law Sujeewa Dahanayake – 0777324062
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