SL Attorney General's Dept., TID continue to conspire against Tamil political prisoners

Three Tamil political prisoners, including an Up-Country Tamil, ended their short-lived hunger-strike in August as they were given an assurance by their lawyers that the High Court Judge B. Sasi Mahendran was determined to proceed with their cases in Vavuniyaa as the fasting prisoners had demanded. Earlier, the so-called ‘Terrorist’ Investigation Division of genocidal Sri Lanka, was trying hard to transfer their cases to a high court in the South, where chances for a Sinhala judge to accept the forcibly obtained confessions by the TID were high. As it became evident that their cases were going to be heard in Vavuniyaa, the TID has recruited a prisoner, recently released from Bossa, to testify against the three with a false confession, the families of the three prisoners told TamilNet on Thursday.

The latest deception of the SL TID was revealed by another prisoner, Vanniyasingam Sujeevan from Paranthan, Ki'linochchi, who has also been released from Bossa after 18 months of imprisonment. Mr Sujeevan has managed to leave the island and alert the families of the cunning move by the SL TID. However, a fellow prisoner, who was also released with him is under severe pressure by the TID to testify against the three, Mr Sujeevan has revealed.

The TID was trying to deceived 5 fellow prisoners to witness against the three, the families said.

Their cases are scheduled to be heard between 25 and 27 September at Vavuniyaa.

In January 2017, the TID was arguing that the cases where ex-LTTE members’ statements were being used, should be moved to courts in the South for ‘security’ reasons.

The SL State has consistently refused to recognize the imprisoned activists who were involved in the armed national liberation struggle of Tamil Eelam as political prisoners. Whilst the former JVP members, who engaged in an armed resistance in the South were recognized as political prisoners in the past, the genocidal State of Sri Lanka has continuously refused to accord that recognition to the Tamil prisoners.