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Miscommunication between Colombo and Male delaying release of client: Counsel
View(s):The Maldivian authorities are yet to respond to a request from Colombo to release a Sri Lankan who has been detained since November last year on charges that he was part of a plot to assassinate President Abdulla Yameen. This has turned into a diplomatic issue between the two governments but on the other hand Colombo cannot intervene in the judicial system of another country be it the Maldives or whatever, Deputy Foreign Minister Dr. Harsha de Silva told the Sunday Times.
He said the government was treating the matter as one of utmost importance and the Foreign Ministry and even the Sri Lankan Mission were holding discussions with all stakeholders in that country. “The Maldivian authorities have informed us that further investigations were needed because the charges are of a serious nature before a decision could be taken to release him,” he added.
However Shabdika Vellampil, counsel for the detained Lankan told the Sunday Times that there has been a serious miscommunication between the Sri Lankan Defence authorities, the Foreign Ministry and the authorities in Male which is delaying the release of his client.
“Local investigators in Male have repeatedly informed me that they were waiting for the all-clear from the authorities in Colombo on the detained Sri Lankan before moves could be made to release him but there appear to be certain shortcomings,” he said without elaborating.
He added that he was planning to visit his client sometime next week and was waiting for an official visa that would enable him to present himself as legal counsel. “Earlier I travelled to the Maldives on a tourist visa and that denied me from representing my client within a legal framework. The Foreign Office in Colombo has assured me that it was working towards obtaining the appropriate visa for my next visit”, Mr. Vellampil further said.
Twenty four-year-old Lahiru Madushanka was produced in a Male court on December 28 and ordered to be further detained for a period of 15 days, he added. Investigators in Male are insisting that the man was a sniper and had served in the Sri Lankan armed forces and was involved in an alleged plot to assassinate the Maldivian President.
The man’s parents living on the outskirts of Colombo maintain that their son had travelled to the Maldives in search of work that had been offered to him by a Maldivian. They said that when he arrived in the Maldives the Maldivian had failed to show up and that it subsequently led to his arrest by the local police.
The family added that the Maldivian had even sent US$ 900 to another individual in Colombo to recruit their son and that this person was also questioned by police and defence authorities and subsequently cleared. “What we cannot understand is the inaction of the Maldivian who failed to show up and meet our son even after paying a tidy sum of money,” Madushanka’s mother told the Sunday Times.