PTA suspect discharged after 7 years in remand

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 April 2011, 00:01 GMT]
The Batticaloa High Court discharged an accused who was indicted seven years ago under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) for getting arms training from LTTE. The High Court Judge, Mr. B. Sasimahendran, reasoned that the the confession made by the accused was taken under duress, and therefore, he is discharging the accused. The accused, 44 years-old Kanthasamy Thavarajan of Badulla was kept in remand since November 21, 2004, legal sources said.

The Judge said after trial that the only evidence against the accused was his confession recordered by the police after his arrest.

The prosecution had failed to substantiate the charge that the accused had given his confession voluntarily.

The accused has been indicted in six more such cases in Kalmunai High Court and one case in Jaffna High Court.

These cases are to come up for hearing shortly, legal sources said.