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Detainees reject bail, seek general amnesty
View(s):More than one hundred prisoners who have been held on terrorism charges in prisons islandwide will begin a fast unto death tomorrow demanding they be released on a general amnesty.
They say they are opposed to the moves to release them on bail since there has been no credible evidence to charge them.
They alleged that the Attorney General’s Department was trying to frame false charges against them and then give them bail. These detainees had been taken in under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said courts would be requested to release 32 detainees on bail tomorrow and another 30 on November 20. A special team from the Attorney General’s Department has been appointed to expedite the probe on the rest of the cases.
Meanwhile the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) passed a resolution this week calling on the Government to release all “political prisoners” under a general amnesty given by President Maithripala Sirisena.