Tamil political prisoners who received death threats from a state minister have sought court protection for their lives.
Eight Tamil political prisoners have filed a petition in the Supreme Court alleging that they were frightened by the manner in which Minister of State Lohan Ratwatte broke into the Anuradhapura prison on September 12, knelt down, scolded and threatened them.
As if ordering their release from prison or on bail or transferring them to Jaffna Prison.
They have further requested that the petition be heard and that it be ruled that their fundamental rights have been violated.
State Minister Lohan Ratwatte, Justice Minister Ali Sabri and Anuradhapura Prison Superintendent are responsible for this. M.H.R. Ajith, Commissioner General of Prisons HMVN Upuldeniya and the Attorney General.
Pubalasingh Suryapalan, m. Sulkashan, Ganeshan Tarshan, K.S. Kajenthirase, r. Thiruval, G.C. Tharshan, M. Sutaharak, T .; Kankanabaran Petitioner The eight Tamil political prisoners are being held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
Minister Ratwatte, who arrived at the Anuradhapura prison on September 12 at 6.10 pm with several others, pulled himself out of jail, knelt down, held a pistol in his hand and threatened to reprimand him.
They point out in their petition that the Minister of State in Ratwatte had said that the President had authorized the release or shooting of terrorist prisoners.
When the petitioner, Mathiyarasan Sulakshan, was asked in Sinhala what was wrong with all the eight, he said that the Minister was very angry when he said that he did not understand Sinhala. Others who were with him when he threatened to shoot him were tamed and taken away, the petition said.
The petitioner political prisoners state that they were in a state of extreme fear and panic at the time and that the situation is still the same.
Gajendra Kumar Ponnambalam, the leader of the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF), demanded in parliament that the prisoners be transferred to the Jaffna prison under the Nelson Mandela rule for safety.
Justice Minister Ali Sabri, who visited the prisoners at the Anuradhapura prison a few days after the massacre, said they had no problem with the prisoners’ safety.
“They have good security here so there is no need to change the prison. If there is not enough security here, we can put it in a place where there is high security. There is no racist issue here,” the Minister of Justice told the media.
Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa, TNA MPs Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam and Selvarasa Gajendran, Samagi Balawega MPs Mano Ganeshan, Dr. Kavinda Jayawardena, Rohana Bandara, TNA Leader R. Sampanthan, A. Sumanthiran and others had visited separate Tamil political prisoners receiving death threats.
In addition to the parliamentarians, three Anuradhapura Regional Coordinators of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka have also visited the Anuradhapura Prison and obtained statements from its officials and eight Tamil political prisoners.
The CID and the Department of Prisons are also investigating. However, the accused Minister of State Lohan Ratwatte has not yet been arrested.