Ten fresh torture charges have been filed against former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa at the Central District Court of California in US yesterday (Jun 26).
The ten complainants who had filed fresh charges are Ramesh Thevarajan, Vidhya Jayakumar, Ramanan Sivalingam, Shanti Padmanathan, Saman Perera, Nimal Jayasuriya, Vasanthi Ratnasingham, Suresh Jeyabalan, Senthil Puwaneswaran, and Mayuran Rajakumar.
They are currently residing in Europe.
Meanwhile, Roy Samathanam, a Canadian plus Sri Lankan citizen who filed charges against Mr. Rajapaksa in April this year had also moved court along with the other complainants thereby bringing the total number of charges against the former Defence Secretary upto 11.
According to a 64-page court document submitted by the plaintiffs, the eleven individuals who are prosecuting the case, had been "abducted, tortured, and raped by security forces" at certain torture sites controlled by Mr. Rajapaksa during his tenure as defence secretary.
These venues have been listed out as the Chaithya Road Detention Site, Criminal Investgations Department (CID) Headquarters (4th floor), Boossa Camp, Mount Lavinia, Dematagoda and Pulmoddai Police stations, and Joseph Camp.
The complaint also points out two military camps in which sexual slavery had occured. The location of these camps have not been identified in the document.
Accordingly, the complainants had sought compensation from former Defence Secretary Rajapaksa and also a court order imposing any other punishment that "court may deem just and proper".
Mr. Ali Sabri Rahim, a Member of Parliament (MP) for Puttalam District whom an open warrant had been issued, attended a public ceremony at Al Aksha National School in Kalpitiya today (16) as the special guest of honor.
The Supreme Court today refused interim relief in an application filed by President’s Counsel Senaka Walgampaya seeking an Order from the Supreme Court compelling the President to appoint judges to fill the existing vacancies in the Court Of Appeal.
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Senior DIG Nilantha Jayawardena has been sent on compulsory leave pending disciplinary investigation over his failure to prevent the Easter Sunday bombings.
Two underworld criminals wanted for multiple crimes, including murder, were brought from Dubai to Sri Lanka, today (12).
All Ceylon Makkal Congress MP Ali Sabri Raheem had been arrested by Kalpitiya police after he surrendered to the police today morning.
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