9 August 2021 08:31 am Views - 219
By Kelum Bandara
The cases, pending or filed before 2016 under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), will be concluded before the end of this year, Justice Minister Ali Sabry said.
In an interview with Daily Mirror, the Minister said the Chief Justice had sent a circular saying all cases pending and filed prior to 2016 should be concluded before the end of this year.
“Those awaiting trial under the PTA should be charged. If there are no charges, they should be released. I cannot comment on specific cases,” he said. He said the work on reforming the PTA is now underway.
Commenting on the X-Press Pearl disaster, he said the Cabinet has appointed a leading firm in the U.S. Ms. Arent Fox LLP based in Washington to appear for the Sri Lankan government,
“We have assigned the Attorney General to pursue legal action through them. They are international experts in the field in terms of assessing damages in the current, medium and long term. The legal part is that. We get updates twice a day from the team which is constantly monitoring the situation. The insurance company has appointed a caretaker. The caretaker is responsible for the whole monitoring process. They are reporting to the MEPA twice a day. They have mobilized their resources to act in case an oil spill occurs. Presently there are no major oil leakages. However a “slight oil sheen has been reported,” he said.