The court designates the Negombo Prison killings incident as 'a crime'

The tragic conflict that occurred inside the Negombo Prison on July 5 and 6 last year was not merely a riot, but a clear crime, as observed by the court. Accordingly, Negombo Magistrate Shilani Perera ordered the Criminal Investigation Department to conduct a comprehensive investigation and submit a report regarding the incident where over twenty inmates and ten officers, including Police Special Task Force officers and those identified as prison officers, were killed.

The Magistrate issued this inquest order after concluding the post-mortem reports and witness examinations related to this incident, which reported over a hundred injured. According to the facts confirmed before the court, all these deaths occurred due to attacks carried out with firearms, including rifles, as well as blunt weapons. The Magistrate pointed out that internal bleeding due to gunshot wounds to the head and chest, and severe blows to the abdomen and hip areas, were the main causes of death.

The Criminal Investigation Department is conducting these investigations under strict legal provisions, including murder under the Penal Code, the Public Property Act, and the Firearms Ordinance. Investigating officers further informed the court that 106 suspects, comprising 81 males and 25 females, have been named and presented for an identification parade in connection with the incident. However, they also pointed out that no forensic reports related to firearms, blood samples, and DNA tests have yet been received by the investigation division.

Considering the facts presented, the Magistrate ordered the further remand of all 106 named suspects until October 29. Permission was also granted to present the remaining suspects, who are not required for the identification parade on that day, to the court online via WhatsApp technology. The Criminal Investigation Department was instructed to conduct an expedited investigation into the incident and submit a report on the same day.

When the case was called, Attorney-at-Law Senaka Perera, Chairman of the Committee for Protecting Prisoners' Rights, appeared on behalf of the deceased inmates, while a team of officers representing the Criminal Investigation Department, led by Assistant Superintendent of Police Chandana Kaluarachchi of its Commercial Crime Investigation Division (01), including Chief Police Inspector Karunathilaka, Sub-Inspectors Dulitha Maduranga and Madusanka, and Woman Sub-Inspector Dilini, were present.

Previously, after the court concluded that the killing of inmates in similar conflicts at Welikada and Mahara prisons constituted a crime, legal action was initiated against the officers who directed the relevant shootings and assaults, with cases filed with the Criminal Investigation Department. The tragedy at Negombo Prison is now also proceeding along the same legal path.