(Lanka-e-News -14.Jan.2016, 11.00PM) The sealing of a number of offices of the army camps in Girithale yesterday, linked to the murder of Ekenliyagoda’s ghastly murder by the military police on the orders of the army commander Lieutenant General Krishantha De Silva is in violation of the Homagama court order , according to legal circles.
Following the arrest of commanding officers of Lieutenant Colonels Shammi Kumararatne ,Prabodha Siriwardena of Girithale camp at that time , and other army officers in connection with the murder of Ekneliyagoda , by the CID , the army commander acted in a manner no other army commander ever conducted himself in the history of Sri Lanka (SL) . That is he brazenly and outrageously provided army’ s legal division assistance to the suspects.
What the army commander ought to have done according to law, was to assist in the CID investigation of the police, that is providing the necessary files , records and evidence to the police, and it is the military police that should usually carry out that task , which means the military police ought to help the CID officers in their investigation.
On the contrary . what the army commander did was, enlisted the legal division of the army to provide legal assistance to the suspects , and in addition held back the files , documents and records the CID was requesting. Despite repeated requests the army commander was dilly dallying while citing bogus reasons and resorting to procrastination.
In this backdrop, when a legal officer of the army’s legal division forwarded a report relating to the army suspects to court when the trial was being heard on 11 th , the new magistrate of Homagama court , made it abundantly clear that the army legal division has no right whatsoever to appear on behalf of the army suspects , and that the duty of the army is not submitting a report to court , but rather , supply all the records and registers the CID is requesting. If impediments are placed in this direction , the magistrate ordered to file action against the army commander under section 185 of the Penal code.
After this court directive , the army commander who got cold feet and transfixed ,on the following day using the military police sealed several offices of the Girithale camp . And , he now says , this action was taken to assist in the court proceedings. However it is the view of legal luminaries that this action of the Army commander is to mislead the court and the public,because the magistrate had not given an order to hand over the relevant records etc . of the investigation to the military police .
If the army commander has acted to serve genuine interests when ordering to seal the offices, he would not have for so long been providing legal assistance to the army suspects . Besides, at the initial stages itself following the filing of charges , the chief of the military police who is the army’s disciplinary officer should have been notified to conduct an investigation. If that had happened, and as a matter of routine ,the military police should have provided its assistance to the CID that is inquiring into it, instead of military police taking separate action to seal offices or making arrests.
The army commander is surely not unaware of this because, this is not the first investigation the CID is conducting in Sri Lanka pertaining to army criminals. In the circumstances, the action of the army commander to seal several offices of the Girithale camp through the military police is most suspicious and highly questionable.
The conduct of the defense minister cum commander in chief of the forces , Maithripala Sirisena, the president of the government of good governance, as well as that of his village folk , the defense secretary , Karunaratne Hettiarachi all along had also been highly questionable in relation to this investigative process. They should see to it that their army commander abides by the laws, and step in to rectify the wrongful actions of aiding and abetting by providing assistance to the suspects in the investigations. Sadly so far no such remedial actions have been taken.
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by (2016-01-14 20:16:41)
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1 discussion on this news
in 88/89/90 how many burned on tires and how many were caught and how many were punished? this is all a joke to me in a country like this. as long as these culprits are not caught my opinion is do what you want with no proof. if justice is needed then catch all killers and kill them. if not I know how to live.
-- by rada on 2016-01-18
