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Case against KP in Appeal Court on Thursday
View(s):The petition filed by the Peoples Liberation Front (JVP) seeking the arrest of former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) arms procurer Kumaran Pathmanathan alias KP was taken up by the Court of Appeal on Tuesday and notice issued to the Attorney General to appear in court.
The case will be taken up for hearing again on February 5.
Vijitha Herath, who filed the petition on behalf of his party, last week alleged that the previous government had failed to take legal action against the former LTTE leader.The respondents for the case include the Army Commander, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Immigration and Emigration Department Controller.
Petitioner’s Counsel Upul Kumarapperuma told the Sunday Times that he made submissions to court which are available in the public domain released by the then government.
“There is no first hand information on Mr. Pathmanathan. Whatever details we have are those released by the then government since his arrest in Malaysia,” he said.
He also noted that KP has not been prosecuted so far on legal grounds and he was protected solely by the government.
“I indicated to the court that he has staged a war against the country in the past three decades and was responsible also for the assassination of former Indian Premier Rajiv Gandhi and former Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa,” he said.
Mr. Kumarapperuma pointed out to court that the former LTTE leader had a warrant issued by Interpol and he had been listed as a ‘most wanted person’ in 23 countries.
The submission states that following his arrest by the Sri Lankan authorities there were no charges levelled against him and the then government failed to inform the public of the measures taken against him.
Attorney Kumarapperuma said since he collected all details about KP through the media and public domain, the court had summoned the Attorney General to hear the investigations made by his department.
Police spokesperson Ajith Rohana said consultations were still on with the Attorney General’s Department whether to arrest him or not.
“There have been no investigations conducted in the past nor have any been in progress against the former LTTE leader. Since the AG has to attend the case in court next week we will act according to his department’s instructions.” he said. (SR)