The Attorney General (AG)’s revision petition against the Chief Magistrate’s ruling over two suspects in the April 21 terrorist attacks case will be taken up for consideration at the High Court on July 23, State Counsel Nishara Jayaratne, Co-ordinating Secretary to the AG told Times Online.
The petition had been filed today (Jul 18) against the Chief Magistrate’s decision to release former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando and Police Chief Pujith Jayasundara on bail over the April 21 terrorist attacks case.
Chief Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne had granted bail to the suspects after they were arrested by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) upon the instructions of the AG for failing to prevent the Easter Sunday attacks.
In the revision petition, the AG had stated that there was no legal requirement to arrest the suspects after obtaining a statement, as pointed out by the Magistrate since there was sufficient evidence against them in the B report submitted to court.
The Chief Magistrate, in her ruling, had also stated that there was not enough sufficient evidence to prove the murder charges against the suspects. However, the AG noted that it could be applied under Section 294 (4) of the Penal Code, since their negligence had led to the loss of one’s life.
Challenging the court ruling that the suspects were arrested based only on the findings of the President’s Special Investigation Committee, AG de Livera noted that the arrest was carried out after considering extracts of the CID's findings into the case.
The AG also argued against a previous court ruling used by the Chief Magistrate to deliver the verdict, by pointing out that it was irrelevant since the suspects had prior intelligence warnings of the attacks.
De Livera also countered the Chief Magistrate’s statement that court is not bound to act upon the AG’s instructions, by stating that no instructions had been issued to that effect.
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