Court fixes 2001 Katunayake attack hearing

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 July 2007, 13:12 GMT]
The Colombo High Court fixed for 25 July the inquiry into the case filed against five accused in the Katunayake International Airport (KIA) attack of 24 July 2001. Thirteen air crafts including two Kfir jet fighters, one MI-24 Helicopter gun ship and one MIG-27- jet fighter were destroyed in the predawn attack on the Katunayake air base, about 35 km. north of Colombo. The Attorney General has indicted five Tamils on 311 counts for aiding and abetting the attack on KIA, legal sources in Colombo said.

The persons accused are: Ratnasingham Pushpakumaran of Negombo, Alfred Dominic of Trincomalee, and Subramaniam Thavarajasingham of Kaarainagar in Jaffna, Nagendran Nagaratnam of Vavuniya, and Thanabalasingham Jeyaledchumy of Kokuvil, Jaffna.

The High Court decided to hold inquiry against the fifth accused in her absentia as she is reported to be evading arrest.

The case was taken for inquiry on Friday to record evidence of witnesses brought from Jaffna against the accused Ms.Jeyaledchumy.

The State Counsel representing the Attorney General moved for a later date as the Deputy Solicitor General who has been assigned to conduct the case was absent.

The court directed that the witnesses brought from Jaffna to give evidence against a woman accused in her absentia to be produced in court on that day, legal sources said.

The Attorney General has listed 415 witnesses on behalf of the State and 244 productions, according to legal sources.