• The petitioners are also seeking an interim order transferring them to a prison in the Northern Province
• The State Minister told the detainees to stand in a semi-circle and ordered them to kneel down before him

By Lakmal Sooriyagoda

Eight prisoners detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) at the Anuradhapura prison yesterday filed a Fundamental Rights petition in the Supreme Court against the alleged criminal conduct on the part of State Minister Lohan Ratwatte.  

The petitioners seek an order in respect of the alleged serious offences committed by State Minister Ratwatte at the Anuradhapura Prison on the I2th of September 2021. The petitioners are also seeking an interim order transferring them to a prison in the Northern Province where their cases are lodged.

The petitioners stated that on the 12th of September around 6.05 p.m, the ten detainees were ordered to come out into the Prison complex's courtyard. They said the State Minister and another person who appeared to be his Secretary, some others who looked like his security detail and some Prison guards were there.

They said that the State Minister told the detainees to stand in a semi-circle and ordered them to kneel down before him.

The petitioners alleged the State Minister started to abuse them in Sinhala language saying that the President had given him all the power in dealing with the PTA prisoners and that he could either release them or shoot them dead. The petitioners further said the State Minister had a pistol in his hand and appeared to be intoxicated.
"The State Minister then demanded to know what crime each of the detainees had committed. He kept shouting abuses at the detainees for a while and then ordered eight Petitioners to go inside. The detainees were all in great shock and fear. Later, the Prison officials told them that the Minister had gone out of the Prison and for them not to be fearful," the petitioners stated.

• State Minister Lohan Ratwatte, Justice Minister Ali Sabry, Prison Superintendent of Anuradhapura M.H.R. Ajith, Commissioner General of Prisons Upuldeniya and Attorney General are named as the respondents in the petition