ACTC Leader to be questioned again

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 January 1999, 22:14 GMT]
The CID's interrogation of Mr.Kumar Ponnambalam was concluded at 7.45 p.m. this evening, said Sri Lankan Police sources in Colombo. The ACTC leader will be questioned again next Wednesday, January 20, they said.

According to the CID, Mr.Ponnambalam was deemed to have committed a crime under section 21 H of the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

He had replied that he had not said anything in contravention of this section of the PTA.

Mr. Kumar Ponambalam, leader of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress.

The ACTC leader had queried from his interrogators, a senior superintendent and an inspector, whether they were acting on any complaint against him.

The policemen had replied in the negative and had said that they were only doing what they had been told to do by their superiors.

Mr.Ponnambalam had refused to answer questions either in English or Sinhala and had insisted he would respond to his interrogators only in the Tamil language. The CID had therefore sent a Muslim officer for the purpose of acting as an interpreter.

All Sri Lankan investigators use Sinhala only to question, takedown complaints, record statements etc.,

Few Tamils in the island's north and east and in the capital know Sinhala.

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