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PTA being defused
as hundreds of cases withdrawn Prime Minister Ranil Wickreme-singhe declared yesterday that 600 cases under PTA had now come up for review. "We are considering the release of suspects from time to time if it is established that they cannot be convicted," he said. His remarks came at a ceremony where a senior navy officer and six soldiers held in custody by Tiger guerrillas for over eight years called on him at Temple Trees. Premier Wickremesinghe said there were a large number of PTA cases which had quite clearly not succeeded. "We are reviewing the cases now and the Attorney General will, from time to time, release suspects if he is convinced there is no case for a conviction," he added. Nearly 400 PTA cases filed against suspected members of the LTTE have already been withdrawn, according to the Attorney General's Department. They include the 13 LTTE cadres who were released yesterday in exchange for seven troops. An official of the AG's Department said most of the withdrawn cases involved instances where confessions had been obtained without substantial evidence. At the Eastern High Court in Trincomalee, the State this week withdrew 29 PTA cases. Some of these cases had been partly heard and virtually all again depended on confessions, the official said. High court Judge J. Visvanathan discharged all the suspects who were facing charges including arms training, aiding and abetting the LTTE, possessing LTTE videos, collecting funds for the LTTE and failure to provide information. TULF Secretary General R Sambanthan said the Tamil National Alliance would continue to lobby for the repeal of the PTA and release of prisoners held under it. "Our position on the PTA is that it does not fulfill the purpose but it aggravates the situation. By having the PTA, more and more Tamil youths have become rebellious after family members and friends were arrested," he said. |
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