Colombo refuses to release 3 political prisoners who have completed serving prison terms: MP

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 November 2017, 23:03 GMT]
Three Tamil males from Mullaiththeevu were detained by the Maldivian authorities in May 2007 for suspicious movement in the international waters off Maldives. A Maldivian court later sentenced them for 15 years of imprisonment. The prisoners were handed over to Colombo along with necessary documents and the verdict to serve the remaining terms. The prisoners have completed their terms in May as one prison year is calculated as 8 months and 10 days if served continuously. However, the SL State is refusing to release them, TNA Parliamentarian Charles Nirmalanathan said. The Tamil parliamentarian from Mannaar said that the families of the three prisoners had taken up the matter with the previous SL Minister of Justice Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe in July and that the SL minister had promised to forward their request to SL Attorney General's Department and to SL Prison Authority.

But, the SL authorities are still refusing to release the prisoners who have served their terms, Mr Nirmalanathan said.

Now, the SL authorities are saying the details of the cases were still with Maldivian authorities and that the documents were being translated through a request placed through the SL Foreign Ministry.

As far as the families were informed earlier, all the documents were handed over to SL authorties by the Maldivian authorities along with the prisoners.

The SL authorities are buying time with a hidden motive of having the prisoners in the jail, the parliamentarian said.

Chronology: