Court releases Jaffna Undergrad held for 9 months without charges

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 May 2007, 11:28 GMT]
Sivaraj Paheerathan, Jaffna university student kept in remand since his arrest on August 18 by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in a cordon and search operation was released by the Colombo Chief Magistrate Ms.Sarojini Kusala Weerawardene Friday following a report from the Attorney General (AG) in writing that there was no evidence to charge him under the Emergency Regulations or to detain him by the Defence Ministry under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), legal sources in Colombo said.

The AG further recommended the release of Paheerathan.

The Colombo Chief Magistrate Thursday ordered the Terrorism Intelligence Department to produce Sivaraj Paheerathan in court on Friday to make an order on the basis of the AG report, legal sources said.

Mr.Paheerathan was produced in court Friday.

He was taken into custody when he was in the office of the Jaffna University Students Union located in the premises of the Jaffna University during a cordon and search operation conducted by the SLA in the area.

SLA claimed he was in possession of leaflets issued by an organization called Peoples Liberation Army at the time of arrest.

Later he was handed over to the Kankesanthurai Police. Thereafter he was airlifted to Colombo and was served detention order by the Defence Ministry, sources said.

AG's written request to court came in response to the application filed in court seeking his release by his Counsels Appathurai Vinayagamoorthy and Thanabalasingham Janakan, legal sources said.