Court releases 17 Tamil civilians arrested in Puththa'lam

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 December 2007, 16:19 GMT]
Seventeen Tamil civilians, arrested a month ago at Munthal and Puththa'lam in the north-western province and kept in detention in the police stations of Munthal and Puththa'lam, were released Monday on the orders of the courts, legal sources said.

Five Tamils were detained in Puththa'lam police station and eight at Munthal police station without any charges.

Another four Tamils were arrested later in another cordon and search operation and detained in Munthal police stations.

Puththa'lam Magistrate Ranil Dharmasena ordered the release of detainees kept in Puththa'lam police station and Additional Magistrate Nirosha Fernando ordered the release of detainees kept in Munthal police station. Chilaw Additional Magistrate Kumari Abeyaratne ordered the release of four other detainees.