Court orders to cremate bodies of another four victims of Mahara prison unrest

The Wattala Magistrate's Court today issued a directive to cremate bodies of another four of the Mahara Prison inmates who were killed during the recent unrest. 

The directive was issued after postmortem reports over the four victims of the prisoners were submitted to the court last week by authorities. 

On December 16, the Court issued a similar directive to cremate four bodies of four prisoners while rejecting a request from the lawyers appearing on half of the relatives of the victims to bury them. The Court was told that all four inmates succumbed to gunshot injuries according to the post mortem examinations reported to the Court. 

The Attorney General (AG) department submitted the postmortem reports to the Courts. The Court is yet to issue directives on the burial of the victims. 

A panel consists of five members including four Consultant Judicial Medical Officers and a Ballistic Expert from the Government Analyst’s Department. 

On November 29, an unrest erupted inside the prison leaving 11 persons including a Prison Guard dead and 117 detainees injured.