75 PTA Detainees to be released

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 October 2002, 17:02 GMT]
Tamil detainees arrested under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) languishing in jails, some for several years, are to be released gradually said Attorney General (AG), K.C. Kanagasabeyson. The Government will soon drop the charges on seventy five of the detainees and release them, the Attorney General added.

The only charge against majority of the detainees held in Kalutura, Welikada and Batticaloa jails is their self-confessions, generally forced under threat of torture, sources said.

Earlier this month, as part of prisoner exchange between the Government of Sri Lanka and Liberation Tigers, thirteen members of the LTTE were released.

Following this, the detainees held a fast to death campaign in the different jails forcing Tamil parliamentarians and ministers from the government to visit the prisoners and to promise remedial actions. During Minister Milinda Moragoda's visit on behalfof Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, he had assured the prisoners that he would take up the matter with the AG.

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