Supreme Court to deliver order on Ratwatte appeal

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 July 2003, 18:29 GMT]
The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka is to deliver its order Friday on the appeal made against an order of the three member Trial-at-Bar High Court, refusing bail for all the fifteen accused in the Udathalawinne massacre case, including the former Deputy Defence Minister, General Anurudha Ratwatte, and two of his sons, Rohan and Chanuka, legal sources said.

The accused in the case have been indicted with several charges, including the murder of ten Muslim youths on the day of general elections in 2001, December 10, and attempted murder, legal sources said.

A five-member bench of the Supreme Court, chaired by Chief Justice Mr.Sarath N.Silva and comprising Justices P.Edussuriya, H.A.S Yapa, Asoka de Silva and T.B Weerasuirya, reserved its order for Friday after hearing the appeal, legal sources said.

The Trial-at-Bar High Court, which heard the bail application initially, refused the application without giving reasons. The accused then appealed against the order to the Supreme Court, which directed its Registrar to return the case record to the Trial-at-Bar to conduct an inquiry anew and to state the reason when delivering its order.

In keeping with that order, the trial-at-bar then held an inquiry into the bail application afresh and made an order, with a 2-1 majority, rejecting the bail application. Two of the Trial-at-Bar judges reasoned that the accused could not be granted bail in recognition of the gravity of the alleged offence. The other judge said in dissent that the accused could be granted bail with stringent conditions.

The accused then again appealed the order of the trial judges of the High Court to the Supreme Court, seeking bail, and the Supreme Court’s decision Friday will determine the outcome of their appeal.

Related Articles:
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18.06.03   High Court rejects Ratwatte bail application
23.04.03   Ratwatte’s final attempt at bail turned down
23.01.03   Ratwatte's bail petition denied