HRC asked to initiate legal action

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 January 2000, 14:31 GMT]
Ten political detainees held at the Kalutara prison have said in a letter to Human Rights Commission (HRC) in Jaffna that they're living in fear in the prison.

They say they have been served with detention orders for indefinite periods and have appealed to the HRC to take steps to initiate legal action on a humanitarian basis.

The following ten detainees are signatories of the letter:

Thambirasa Yokachandran, Kulanthai Vadivel Sekar, Subramanium Mohanathan, Kathiravelu Ratheeshkumar, Thilairasa Pakerathan, Seevaratnam Rakumaran, Kunalingam Viyeyapaskaran, Kumarasamy Uthasuriyan, Nakenthiram Thamilnesan and Vasantharajah.

Meanwhile, Mr Pon. Selvarajah, Member of Parliament for the Batticaloa district, has requested the Minister of Justice to transfer all the 17 Tamil prisoners who have been indicted in the Eastern High Court and detained at Kalutara prison to Batticaloa jail immediately.

Mr.Selvarajah has brought to the notice of the Minister that these 17 prisoners, all are residents of Batticaloa have been charged under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and the cases are pending in the Batticaloa High Court.

The Batticaloa High Court postponed these cases without an inquiry as police witnesses who recorded the statements of the accused continuously failed to attend court without excuse. As a result, the detainees were detained at Kalutara prison for several years without being brought to trial.

He appealed to the minister to expedite the inquiry in these cases and to transfer all the 17 accused to Batticaloa prison.