Twenty-two PTA cases withdrawn in four days

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 September 2002, 18:06 GMT]
Twenty-two cases filed under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) have been withdrawn in the Eastern High Court held at Trincomalee since Monday till Thursday on the advice of the Attorney General. On Thursday alone the State Counsel withdrew seven PTA cases. The HC Judge Mr.J.Visvanathan discharged the accused in all the cases.

The trial in two PTA were stopped half way Thursday when the State Counsel Mr.S.Kannan made an application to court that he was withdrawing the indictments against the accused on the advice of the AG.

In all the PTA cases withdrawn Thursday the prosecution depended solely on the confessions purported to have been made by the accused to prove their guilt. The accused had been indicted on several charges including obtaining arms training and collecting funds for the LTTE and failure to provide information about the movements of LTTE members in their areas.