Court defers verdict in Weliveriya shooting case

The Gampaha High Court the Trial-at-Bar has deferred delivering the verdict in the case against a Brigadier and three soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army over the shooting to death of three persons and injuring several others during a protest by villagers demanding clean drinking water at Weliweriya Gampaha.

The court was scheduled to deliver its verdict yesterday, however when the case was taken up the Trial-at-Bar announced that the verdict will be delivered on 17 May 2024.

On 1 August in 2013, army personnel opened fire at unarmed locals at Weliweriya, killing three and injuring several others, as they protested against a factory which they said polluted their groundwater and demanded clean drinking water.

In 2019, then Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya appointed a Trial-at-Bar consisting of High Court Judges Menaka Wijesundara (President), Nimal Ranaweera and Nishantha Hapuarachchi to hear the Rathupaswala case, after considering the Attorney General’s request.