STF men arrested for Trinco-5 murders granted bail
Tuesday, 15 October 2013 00:16
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In a remarkable twist on a high profile case that has received international attention, the Trincomalee High Court yesterday granted bail to 12 Police Special Task Force (STF) personnel arrested in connection with the murders of five students in January 2006.
High Court Judge Amal Ranarajah freed the suspects on Rs. 5,000 bail and Rs. 500,000 personal bail when they were produced in Court yesterday.
The suspects were also ordered to appear before the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) every week and not to intimidate any of the witnesses appearing in the case.
The incident referred to as the ‘Trincomalee massacre’ occurred when the five Tamil high school students on a beach in Trinco town were briefly detained and then shot dead.
The incident drew a huge outcry among human rights groups calling on the Government to bring to justice those killed in the incident.
The inquiry into the case of the killing commenced on 5 August 2013, and 12 STF Police personnel had been arrested and remanded.
Last month the Government informed the UN Human Rights Council that a special prosecutor has been assigned to lead the team of prosecutors in this case.
Also last month an Amnesty International delegation including Sri Lanka experts visited the UN Human Rights Council to raise the case on the murder of the five students.
Dr. Kasipillai Manoharan, the father of one of the students, was with the delegation. Since his son’s murder, Dr. Manoharan has led a vocal campaign for justice. (Colombo Gazette)
