2 Priests, 2 youths arrested for subversive activities in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 November 2006, 05:17 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police officials produced two catholic priests and two youths before Additional Magistrate M .Thirunavukarasu on Wednesday, accusing the four of indulging in activities defaming both the Goverment of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Sri Lanka Military, legal sources in Jaffna said. The magistrate however, instructed the police to contact the Attorney General and submit a report concerning the feasibility of filing charges against the accused.

The youths, Allen Vinoja and Marianayagam Godfrey Morris Gnanageethan, were arrested on Friday in Passayoor by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops and were later handed over to the police.

On the same day two catholic priests Fr.Francis Xavier Jeyasegaram, and Fr.Jesuratnam Bernard were arrested by police.

All four were released on bail on the same day

The priests and the two youths belong to Commission Justice of Peace (CJP), an organization directly under Rt...Rev.Dr.Thomas Savundaranayagam, Bishop of Jaffna, and were arrested for possessing pre-printed post cards to be distributed to the public.

These post cards detailed the current situation prevailing in the peninsula, including atrocities of the Sri Lanka Military, the closure of A9 Highway, and disappearance of youths, legal sources said.

The four were planning to obtain signature and opinions from 5000 members of the general public and forward them to the Secretary General of United Nations requesting early action to bring back normalcy to the Northeast.

These arrests were intended to stop the activities of the peace group, civil society sources in Jaffna said.