PTA accused freed after seven years in prison

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 November 2002, 19:18 GMT]
The Colombo High Court Friday discharged an accused in a Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) case when the State Counsel withdrew the indictment on the instruction of the Attorney General. The accused had been in prison since his arrest seven years ago in the hill town of Nuwaraeliya.

The Attorney General had indicted the accused, Richard Selvanayagam Robertson, for taking photographs of the President’s House at Nuwaraeliya and supplied information to the LTTE cadres.

According to the indictment the accused had committed the offence on 27 December, 1995. The accused had been in remand till Friday when the High Court Judge Mr.S.Sriskandarajah made order discharging him

When the case was taken up for inquiry Friday the State counsel submitted to court that the prosecution solely depended on the confession purported to have been made by the accused to a police officer Mr. W.S.M.Gunasekara.

The confession of the accused purported to have been made by the accused and twenty-one photographs taken by him were the production in the case, court sources said.